


Can we keep him?

by sarcasmismyweapon



Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: First Meeting, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of homophobia, Team Bonding, being badass's, first mission together, jensen is a sarcastic bastard, lots of jokes, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-13 23:09:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 83,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: while recuperating from his last mission in the base hospital, cougar is surprised one day to have a stranger come barging into his room. the blonde man declares that he needs a place to hide out from the 'evil' nurses. the sniper is bemused by the strange man's antics, but allows him to stay...the rest is history.jensen's first encounters with the losers and how he became a part of the team.





	1. strange beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> first losers fanfic, there are no relationships between characters other than pooch/jolene which is mentioned, but not the focus of the story whatsoever. the story focus's on their coming together as a team and a bit of whumpage on jensen's part because i'm evil and like angst. 
> 
> disclaimer: dont own the series, i just like to toy with all the characters for my own amusement.

he’d been lying in his hospital bed for nearly two days since he and his team had returned. in that amount of time, he’d had the distinct pleasure of having his ankle put into a removable cast to keep the damaged bones in alignment while they healed. it wasn’t something he was fond of by any means, but it also was inevitable after taking that tumble down a mountain side. he was grateful that he’d been given a single room and not a double like most of the room’s in the medical facility. he supposed that it could have been because of his CO clay requesting it for him, but he couldn’t be sure if that was the reason why or not. it wasn’t like he could just ask clay if he’d done something like that for him, he barely spoke to his team unless absolutely necessary. it wasn’t that he didn’t like his team, he cared for them deeply, he just never had much to talk about. he let his teammate’s fill the void for his lack of speech.   
his team didn’t seem bothered by his lack of speaking, if anything they were used to it by now and the few times he did speak up, seemed to be treasured by them for some reason. they were very different than his first team, that was for sure. sighing, he longed to get out of the medical center and return to his team’s housing on base. it was much more comfortable then lying about in the quiet room. although he didn’t mind the quiet, he had somehow grown used to the noisiness of his teammates. there wasn’t a day that went by without rogue threatening someone, pooch fixing something or other while making smart ass remarks to rogue, and clay keeping the peace between them all, even while with holding his own mirth at the situations his team got into. then there was the fact that by being in the medical center he had to deal with intrusions by strangers, it was not congruent to him getting rest. his thoughts were jarred when once again a woman came into his room, a nurse, to check on him. she was all smiles.  
“hello, how are you feeling today?”  
knowing that he was required to speak to the medical staff as clay had already lectured him on such, he replied.  
“fine”  
she smiled at him before asking.  
“no pain?”  
he shrugged his shoulders before inwardly admonishing himself for not replying verbally. finally he added.  
“it is dull”  
“well, we want to keep it that way alright? your not due for another dose of pain med’s for an hour or so, but i wanted to come check on you to make sure you were alright. can i get you anything?”  
cougar shook his head before thanking the woman. she nodded and left him in peace.   
sighing he reclined into his pillows and glared down at his casted foot. the bruising was pretty bad, though the swelling had gone down considerably over the last day or so. the pain medicine they had him on was thankfully not the type to make him fall asleep against his will, it was just enough to take the edge off of the pain radiating from his ankle. he’d dealt with worse of course, but it was nice to have pain medicine to make him more comfortable in the meantime while it healed.   
his head jerked up suddenly from staring at his wounded ankle to the door. he wondered what the nurse could possible want when she had just be in not two minutes ago, he scowled as he saw a heavily bandaged man dart in through the door and slam it behind him before slumping in obvious relief. cougar watched the intruder warily. it was obvious the man was at the center for treatment, but why was he running around? it was as if he was hiding from someone. he watched as the blonde sighed, pressing his head against the door a minute before his head jerked up and he twisted around to see cougar lying there. they stared at each other a moment before the blonde muttered.  
“shit...uh sorry about that”  
he waved to the door before adding.  
“i-i didn’t wake you did i?”  
shaking his head cougar watched the man sigh in obvious relief.  
“cool, cool. so um...this is really awkward, but you mind if i chill here a while?”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t really care if the man hid out in his room. it wasn’t like he had a lot to do and the company of the stranger might not be too bad until his teammates came by later. the blonde smiled at him before hobbling over to the window seal. he maneuvered himself enough to get seated on it, one leg dangling off of the ledge while the other was tucked inside the window frame he was contorting his body into. it didn’t look comfortable to cougar, but he’d seen all the tight spaces pooch had forced himself into to fix things and figured it must be the same for the blonde.   
he disregarded his ‘guest’ for a moment to stare back down to his foot. it was really his only injury, he had cuts and bruises from the tumble down the mountain side, but nothing worse than the ankle. glancing back over to his guest he saw the multitude of bandages strew over the man. he remembered his hobbled steps as well indicating there was something wrong with a leg or possibly the man’s hip. he was dressed in the traditional sleeping clothes given to all patients well enough to move about. as if he realized he was being watched the blonde turned his head away from the view outside to look at him. cougar didn’t say anything, a moment later the blonde spoke again.  
“so uh...busted ankle?”  
cougar nodded his head to the man. technically his ankle wasn’t broken, some of the bones were cracked and to prevent them from really breaking he had the cast. however he wasn’t about to go into such depth with the stranger. the blonde nodded his head before saying.  
“had one of those a while ago, not fun...then again nothing that can get you in here is fun is it? you would think they’d put that in fine print on all those pamphlets they hand out to the college kids ya know? warning may cause permanent damage and you may be forced to have some elderly bitty who has permission to poke and prod you for your own health.”  
cougars lips twitched at the man’s statement, the blonde seemed to catch it because he smiled back. a moment passed before the blonde spoke again.  
“so i guess you want an explanation as to why i barged in here right?”  
cougar shrugged, he was curious, but he wasn’t going to ask and if the man didn’t wish to tell him. the man tilted his head before saying.  
“really? i’d be hella curious if some stranger came barging into my room like the devil was after him. course some of those nurses should qualify as the devil man...i swear that one is evil incarnate. i’ve taken down plenty of big burly ass hats in the field. wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot poll my man, not ever.”  
cougar idly wondered if the man knew he strayed from his original task of telling him why he was there, but figured it wasn’t all that important. the man was amusing and he’d been right that he didn’t really mind the company. it had gotten boring sitting around with nothing to do, at least with the stranger he had someone to listen too. he blinked a moment to clear his thoughts when he realized that the blonde was talking again.  
“and i mean what are in those things right? they are totally not normal. like some kind of black magic voodoo shit i swear...oh i once got to meet this tribe of people in africa, totally cool man. well minus the weird food stuff they ate, some of it wasn’t bad, but there was this paste they ate...man the look on my team’s face when they had to eat it because we couldn’t upset the chief and whatnot...hilarious. none of them were smart enough to just hide it to dispose of later and hey who am i to tell the idiots if they weren’t smart enough to figure that out in the first place right? so there they are munching away and god it was so hard not to laugh. it was even better when i got to look the shit up and tell em what they’d ate. never been happier to be sly at hand my man, im not one to eat grub guts inside roadkill intestines...god their faces”  
he chuckled a moment before looking at cougar who was faintly smiling, then as if he remembered something he said.  
“oh if im talking too much just tell me to shut up alright? im used to it, and to be honest i can never tell when people are fed up with me unless they hit me or yell.”  
cougar frowned at that, no one should be hit just because they liked speaking their mind. he could understand the yelling, rogue was fond of that, but even with all the threats someone like rogue did, he’d never seen the man hurt any of his teammates. threaten yes, do. no.   
“so anyways, just you know let me know when i need to shut up okay?”  
cougar nodded his head, the blonde tilted his at that before asking.  
“can you talk? oh shit, sorry that was really insensitive i mean you don’t need sensitivity, i mean...damn it.”  
cougar chuckled at the kids bumbling before finally saying.  
“si”  
the blonde head jerked back before he blinked and asked.  
“uh...spanish...okay, sure, ummm i don’t speak spanish. man im so sorry i’ve been in here rambling away and you-do you understand english? i mean i know we got some exchange guys from the east a while ago, but i hadn’t heard of anybody from down south...”  
deciding to put the poor kid out of his misery, cougar said with a smirk on his face.  
“i speak english amigo”  
the blonde smiled before sighing in obvious relief.  
“thank god, cause outside of a few words, mostly related to food, i couldn’t say shit to you if you didn’t.”  
chuckling cougar nodded his head at the kid. he was used to most of the base not being able to understand him when he spoke spanish. clay was the only one on his team who was semi-fluent in it and he even screwed up from time to time. he normally left it to cougar to translate for him if they needed it. the kid finally said.  
“i’ve always wanted to learn, i mean i know other languages and all that jazz, but for some reason i’ve never gotten around to spanish. do you speak other languages too?”  
cougar shrugged before adding.  
“spanish, english, very little else”  
the blonde smiled after having gotten the silent man to say more than two words. he finally said.  
“i know russian, japanese, a few middle eastern languages, some french, though its not solid by any means and then of course english. oh and computer languages...those too.”  
raising a brow to the blonde he wasn’t sure what he meant by computer languages, but figured the kid was young enough to be into that sort of thing. smiling the blonde asked.  
“so where’s your team or are you a floater?”  
smirking cougar said.  
“they are on base, waiting for me”  
he pointed to his ankle. the blonde nodded.  
“yeah that’s always a bitch aint it? when i broke both my hands i thought the world was ending man, cant do shit without your hands. total nightmare, not to mention embarrassing beyond belief.”  
chuckling at the man’s implied statements he nodded his head and let the kid continue his ramblings.   
“granted, i’d take broken hands any day over the alternative. that was one mean fucker i tell you. never been so happy to be able to kick someone in his happy place.”  
snorting cougar shook his head at the kid. smirking the blonde said.  
“dude he broke my hands, he totally deserved it.”  
nodding his head to appease the man’s statement they both jolted when the door came open. cougar smiled as his team came in though they all froze at the sight of the strange blonde in their teammates room. the kid rubbed the back of his bandaged head and smiled.  
“hi?”  
they continued to frown, though rogue’s glare was the hardest. clay pushed himself past his sic and asked.  
“who are you? what are you doing here?”  
putting his hands up in a ‘i surrender’ gesture the kid stumbled out.  
“corporal jake jensen sir, i um...was hiding out in your man’s room for a bit.”  
clay frowned at that, but before he could ask, the kid, jensen said.  
“my nurse is evil”  
clay sighed as he heard pooch laugh from behind him, giving the kid an unimpressed look, he glanced to cougar for his opinion on the matter. his sniper smirked at him and shook his head. nodding he turned his attention to the kid again and asked.  
“where’s your team corporal?”  
jensen swallowed stiffly before saying   
“m’not sure sir”  
frowning, clay was interrupted by his sic officer calling out.  
“what kind of fucked up answer is that? how do you not know where they are?”  
jensen jolted at the man’s tone before stumbling out nervously.  
“uh...they weren’t here when i woke up sir...doctor said everybody is okay so...i figured i’d see em once i got out.”  
rogue continued to glare daggers at the kid, but clay took over once more.  
“so you woke up here? and your team hasn’t been by to see you?”  
jensen shrugged before off handily commenting.  
“its not like their my permanent team sir, i float around a lot.”  
giving the kid a firm nod, clay asked.  
“so you figured your waiting for new orders”  
jensen nodded his head before stating.  
“yes sir”  
nodding clay backed off finally, giving his glaring sic a look. rogue growled before turning his attention away from the stranger to ask cougar.  
“how much longer you laid up for man?”  
cougar shrugged at the annoyed man, rogue glared at him, but the sniper was pretty immune to it by now. pooch snorted before saying.  
“he cant will his leg to heal jackass”  
cougar smirked at pooch who gave him a nod. the transportation specialist glanced to the blonde who had gone suspiciously quiet on the window seal. the kid was looking out the window and seemed to be ignoring them. frowning at the sight of the kid all alone, he took it upon himself to ask.  
“you a newbie?”  
jensen jumped a little before turning to look at pooch and shake his head. then almost nervously he said.  
“no sir”  
rolling his eyes pooch told him.  
“relax, i aint a sir, makes me feel as old as clay”  
he motioned to his co, who scowled at him. jensen glanced between them nervously before after seeing that nothing was going to happen settled once more to say.  
“im not new...i just haven’t been on base a while. they loan me out a lot.”  
“what makes you so special?”  
rogue sneered at the blonde. the kid looked at him blankly a moment before stating in a matter of fact tone.  
“i hacked the defense servers when i was fifteen, that seemed to be a big deal.”  
they stared at him a moment before rogue muttered.  
“bullshit”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“im serious...its in my records....well not my records here, my records out there... well i guess that’s part of in here too, i mean outside the base, you know out-”  
“i know what you fuckin mean”  
nodding his head jensen snapped his jaw shut at the man’s angry retort. he was far too used to people taking his explanations as criticism. so he tried to refrain from saying too much to people that seemed bothered by his level of intelligence. his head turned to the leader of the unit who said.  
“why’d you hack the defense systems in your own country”  
there was an edge to the man’s tone. sighing jensen said.  
“i was bored...technically speaking i didn’t know it was illegal to do so. i just thought if you were smart enough to get through then whatever, i didn’t see any harm in it. course after the fed’s came and lectured me and then my sister...”  
he winced on remembering that incident before continuing.  
“i learned my lesson sir, they recruited me straight outta high school.”  
nodding his head clay asked.  
“did they recruit you or blackmail you?”  
jensen’s eyes widened at that, it was the first time anyone had actually asked for a distinction in the events that had taken place after he was caught hacking into their government. most just saw it as a great opportunity to be head hunted by the government. no one could see the potential dangers of saying no. shrugging his shoulders he avoided the question by saying.  
“im here now, doesn’t really matter how,why or anything else for that matter.”  
clay frowned at the kid, opening his mouth to ask something else, they all turned when the door came open and a nurse smiled at them all. she bustled over and handed cougar a small cup of pills and a glass of water before looking up and once her eyes landed on jensen she scowled.  
“really? this is where you’ve been?”  
the blonde winced before trying to lighten the mood.  
“i didn’t leave this floor this time?”  
she glared at him before pointing towards the door while lecturing him.  
“this man needs rest,not you intruding into his room and keeping him up while your trying to avoid everybody else. we’ve been looking for you, your co isn’t going to be happy to hear about this corporal.”  
jensen sighed and nodded before sliding out of the window seal and hobbling out of the room. the nurse followed briskly after him. once the door was shut did the team turn to regard one another.  
“that was weird right?”  
pooch questioned. rogue snorted before saying.  
“kids a friggin liar”  
pooch rolled his eyes before saying.  
“i meant him avoiding his own room and the medical staff.”  
rogue shrugged his shoulders before saying.  
“he’s just digging himself a bigger hole by not following orders. i mean what idiot goes playing hide and seek with the nurses here?”  
clay shook his head before telling them both to quiet down as he asked cougar.  
“he bother you?”  
cougar shook his head, jensen hadn’t bothered him. nodding his head clay said.  
“alright then, so long as he wasn’t bothering you, i wont make a scene about it.”  
cougar nodded before saying.  
“si, he was-friendly”  
pooch smirked before saying.  
“yeah? you make a new friend cougar?”  
the sniper glared at his teammate before turning his attention back to clay to say.  
“is it true? what he said?”  
clay shrugged before commenting.  
“don’t know, i suppose i could look it up. doesn’t make sense though for him to be a floater if he’s good at his job.”  
he twisted to glare at rogue who had muttered ‘that’s cause he’s lying’. shaking his head he turned his attention back to cougar and said.  
“you hang tight alright? little longer and you can come back to the house with us.”  
nodding his head cougar said.  
“si”  
smirking the group chatted a while about this and that, though cougar hardly said anything during all of the conversations. it was still nice to be able to speak to his teammates, he was used to their companionship and being forced away from them was unnerving for the man.

*******************

it was midday the next day when cougar was forced to look up from the book pooch had brought him. he raised a brow and then smirked when the familiar form of jensen came darting into his room. the door shutting behind the man. the blonde sighed before giving him a thumbs up.  
“close one man, she’s scary good.”  
snorting the man shook his head at the blonde. jensen smiled before hobbling over towards the window seal. cougar frowned as he watched the man’s stiff movements. once the man was settled cougar smiled at the blonde. jensen for his part smiled back and said.  
“figured she’s not smart enough to check here again. you don’t mind do you? i mean there’s a guy down the hall in a coma, he wont care if you do-”  
shaking his head cougar spoke for the first time since his guest had arrived.  
“i do not mind”  
the blonde smiled and nodded.  
“thanks man, by the way i gotta say that big black dude on your team is one scary son of a bitch”  
chuckling cougar said.  
“si”  
smirking jensen said.  
“what’s that guy weigh? he looks like he could bench press a Humvee man. would not want to take him on, no suree. so hey did they give you an eta on escape?”  
he motioned towards cougars ankle. the sniper smirked before saying.  
“two days”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“sweet. not too bad, gonna be longer to get the cast off though right?”  
“si”  
smirking jensen said.  
“your just lucky i know what that means.”  
cougar snorted at the blonde who was obviously pulling his leg by that statement. jensen smiled a moment before glancing out the window. it was quite a while before the blonde finally spoke up again. cougar glanced back up to the blonde after having returned to his reading in the gap in conversation.  
“so uh, what do you do? i mean you know your specialty and all that?”  
smirking cougar said.  
“long range support”  
jensen blinked at him before he exclaimed.  
“dude your a sniper?”  
nodding his head cougar wondered why the man was so ecstatic about that.  
“man that’s awesome...i’d suck at that, what with the glasses and all and then the whole forgetting my gun thing...that’d be kinda more obvious with a rifle right?”  
he chuckled, cougar frowned before stating.  
“you forgot your gun?”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“yeah...a few times, but hey its not like i needed it. im a very smooth talker my man, i got myself out of quite a few jams just by talking.”  
shaking his head cougar mumbled.  
“idiota”  
jensen blinked before saying.  
“ummm don’t know what that one means my man, but im gonna guess it mean’s awesome or something equivalent. cause i am awesome, make no mistake about that.”  
the blonde smiled brightly at him, frowning cougar shook his head and said.  
“no”  
tilting his head jensen asked.  
“what do you mean no? i am awesome, i mean how many guys do you know who can talk down a peruvian drug lord who’s junked up on cocaine? all without a gun.”  
he pointed to himself. snorting cougar asked.  
“are you sure it was drugs?”  
“yes im sure, that sure as hell wasn’t powdered sugar man.”  
he retorted petulantly. smirking cougar shook his head and said.  
“tienes un deseo de muerte mi amigo (you have a death wish my friend)”  
jensen blinked at him and then shook his head.  
“nope got nothing.”  
smirking cougar shrugged his shoulders before relaxing into his bed. jensen huffed.  
“fine, keep your spanishy ways.i’ll just get a book and decode you later.”  
blinking cougar chuckled at the man’s statement. jensen huffed, putting his arms over his chest in a rough manner only to wince and throw them down. cougar sat up in his bed at the sight and asked.  
“estas bien?”  
jensen panted a little before glancing up at him once more and saying.  
“no clue dude”  
“are you okay?”  
nodding his head jensen waved at him.  
“fine fine...nothing to worry about my man. got it all taken care of. right as rain. which by the way is a really weird saying, how can rain be right? for that matter can it be wrong? i don’t think it can, i mean it can be cold as fuck, but i don’t think that’s necessarily wrong of it ya know?”  
shaking his head at the blonde, cougar settled back into his bed and let the man ramble a bit. it was almost soothing to hear the man go on and on about this or that, nothing of importance really. however, his voice was calming to the sniper, it was far better than the cold silence he had been surrounded by before the man arrived. cougar glanced up when the man’s voice trailed off suddenly, unsure if he had missed something he watched the man a moment. jensen was looking out the window at something. the man huffed before turning and asking.  
“how far away could you shoot someone in the ass?”  
chuckling cougar shrugged his shoulders.  
“i mean, clear shot my man, good vantage point, little wind resistance. no obstacles.”  
smirking cougar asked.  
“you have someone you wish to see shot in the ass?”  
jensen smirked before asking.  
“you don’t?”  
cougar blinked at that a moment before he realized that the blonde had a point. smirking he replied.  
“si”  
nodding his head jensen glanced back out the window.  
“im a pretty good shot myself, but not sniper material...i think they’d notice me creeping up on someone with a gun in hand aimed at their ass.”  
snorting cougar said.  
“si”  
he saw the blonde smirk at his reply before jensen said.  
“just so you know, he deserves it, totally not a petty thing at all. i mean what kind of ass hat-”  
jensen sighed before shaking his head, looking up jensen shrugged at cougar before saying.  
“sorry, i can get riled up sometimes. m’sure you don’t want to hear about all of this shit.”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders. he didn’t mind listening to the man, he was intriguing. smirking jensen said.  
“thanks dude.. i promise i wont start in on the basic anatomy of a person’s ass or the best place to shoot someone there, cause i totally haven’t researched that, nope no way”  
he muttered as he stared out the window. snorting cougar muttered.  
“idiota”  
“i know im awesome right?”  
snorting at the man’s reply, cougar settled into read his book a little longer while jensen stared out the window. cougar was unsure if he was seeing his ‘target’ or if it was something else that had sparked the man’s last train of thought. he never could tell with the man’s random tangents into other subjects. he vaguely listened to his guest talk about a variety of subjects from why he thought the blue power ranger was totally undervalued and how black licorice should be outlawed everywhere as it was obviously nothing more than edible tar. he smirked as he turned another page in his book as jensen had moved onto which care bear was the evilist and if there was zombie outbreak how screwed were the majority of the new army recruits.   
he had just turned another page when he realized it had grown quiet a few moments prior. frowning he glanced up and upon seeing his guest slumped into the window pane and shook his head. the man was obviously tired if he could fall asleep in such a horrible place and position. he returned to his book and let jensen sleep for as long as he was able. sooner or later a nurse or his team would end up coming by, but until then the blonde could rest.

it was nearly forty five minutes later before the door opened. cougar glanced up and sighed when he saw the nurse take notice of jensen. she was scowling at the sleeping soldier.   
“he is fine”  
he tried to argue for the man’s continued stay, the nurse turned to look at him and shook her head.  
“he has his own room with a bed, where he should be staying. this isn’t doing him any good, constantly getting up and moving around, he’s supposed to still be in bed for christ’s sake.”  
cougar’s eyes widened at that as he turned to look at the contorted form of the blonde. jensen wasn’t supposed to be out of bed yet? the nurse walked by his bed and tapped the man on the shoulder. it was like a bolt of electricity struck the man, he jolted awake and hissed in pain at the sudden movement before seemingly taking notice of the scowling woman with her arms crossed over her chest. jensen smirked at her.  
“heya, how’s it going?”  
she scowled harder before jutting out a hand and pointing towards the door. sighing jensen slid from the window seal and hobbled his way towards the door.  
“see ya man”  
cougar nodded his head as he watched the man leave. the nurse turned to look at him and said.  
“he shows up again, you press your call button. there’s no reason for you to be bothered by his disruptions.”  
she stalked out before cougar could argue that jensen hadn’t been bothering him. sighing he slumped into his bed and contemplated what he’d learned about the man’s supposed medical status.

*********************

it was later that night when his team had arrived that clay asked.  
“your friend show up again? heard the nurses muttering about him”  
cougar nodded his head  
“si”  
nodding his head clay said.  
“looked him up, he wasn’t lying about his hacking abilities. downright genius apparently, though that hasn’t seemed to make a difference when it comes to holding down a place in a team.”  
“cause he’s annoying”  
rogue muttered. the others ignored the man, he was easily offended and his judgment couldn’t always be counted on to not be skewed. instead clay continued.  
“been marched from team to team as needed. he’s apparently accident prone, kid’s been in here more than he should have if he has a brain in that skull of his. doesn’t make much sense to be honest. he gets glowing reports on skills, but has so many misconduct reports and papers stating that teams wont work with him again that its piling up. they don’t know what to do with him, so they float him around...doubt it will be long before he’s discharged at this rate.”  
cougar frowned at that, but didn’t say anything. instead leaving it to his teammates to ask questions. sure enough pooch spoke up.  
“okay? so he’s a frickin genius who can hack anything, but he cant keep a team to save his life? something seems fishy there clay”  
his co nodded his head.  
“i know, but there’s not much to be done. he either sticks it out until he finds a team he can deal with or he gets kicked out because no one will take him on anymore.”  
shaking his head pooch was interrupted from saying anything else by rogue saying.  
“doesn’t seem like that much of a loss, so the kids good with computers...big friggin whoop. we get all our Intel from base, most other teams do the same. he’s obviously not meant for the field, they should desk jockey him and get it over with. if he cant hack that, send him home”  
pooch and cougar scowled at the sic, but clay just shook his head before explaining to rogue.  
“he’s not just good with computers rogue, one of his mission statements said he pieced together a recovery beacon out of spare parts from broken radios and an emergency supply kit. it saved that team’s life. that ain’t duct tape work rogue...that takes skill.”  
the man snorted before asking.  
“how’d they get in that position in the first place? they have to go rescue the kid?”  
clay rolled his eyes before moving on to ask cougar.  
“he say anything else to you?”  
cougar shook his head before saying.  
“nurse said he’s supposed to be in bed”  
pooch shrugged at that.  
“so, they don’t want him up and about, he’s probably driving them crazy with his little disappearing act.”  
cougar shook his head before saying.  
“she said, his injuries wouldn’t heal if he kept at it”  
they stilled at that before rogue dared to ask.  
“you mean he’s actually up and about causing himself pain instead of resting? what kind of fucking idiot does that?”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders. he didn’t have an answer for that. clay frowned before telling his sniper.  
“he comes by again, you ask him. that’s not normal behavior...if somethings wrong in his head, we’ll need to report it.”  
cougar nodded his head at his commanding officers request. he didn’t like the thought of something being wrong with jensen, but understood that they had a responsibility to report it if something was amiss with the man. it was pooch who asked.  
“you feel safe with him? i can lend ya my gun”  
he tugged up his shirt to show his pistol. cougar thought a moment before shaking his head.   
“if your sure.”  
pooch said. cougar nodded before turning to ask clay.  
“traumatic past?”  
knowing what his sniper was asking in so few words, clay shrugged.  
“ his personal files were limited...they seemed edited, so who knows there...his mission reports paint a pretty graphic picture though. kids been through some shit storms i’ll give him that. he’s seemed to bounce back though every time.”  
it was rogues firm voice that interrupted their conversation.  
“maybe he’s outta bounce”  
they glanced to the sic before they nodded their heads. it was true people could put up with a lot, but eventually things compounded and people broke. the rest of the time his team was there, the conversation was steered towards a better topic. pooch was in the process of figuring out how to propose to his long time girlfriend jolene. so the men banded together to figure out someway pooch could pop the special question to the woman. though most of the suggestions ended up being too bizarre or downright ridiculous for pooch to consider, it lifted all of their spirits to joke around once more.

**************************

cougar glanced at the clock. he frowned. jensen was late. normally the blonde would stumble his way in by now. granted it wasn’t like the blonde had to come see him, the nurses were all up in arms to keep him in bed, but he didn’t figure that jensen was the type to listen to that. he hadn’t thus far, so what would change. sighing, he turned his gaze from the clock and went back to reading. there was nothing else he could do at the moment but sit and read....and wait.  
two hours passed before the door came open and the familiar form of jensen stumbled in. the man shut the door before sighing.  
“i swear they’re getting better at that...i didn’t think they’d ever leave me alone”  
smirking cougar was about to reply to the man, when his smile fell and he frowned. jensen smiled at him as if nothing was wrong, yet the man had a fresh black eye forming on his face.  
“something wrong man?”  
“si...your eye”  
he pointed towards jensen’s face. the blonde smirked and waved him off.  
“i might have been trying to evade capture and fallen.”  
the blonde joked as he made his way slowly over to the window seal. cougar noticed right away that the blonde’s normally slow, stiff gate was even more so today. he was hurting.  
“you are in pain”  
jensen glanced back at him and shook his hand.  
“nah man, im fine.”  
cougar frowned at the blonde as he got situated in his spot. the blonde sighed once he was seated, probably unconsciously as he didn’t seem to realize just how much he was showing to cougar. the blonde’s form radiated discomfort, though cougar knew it wasn’t from his presence, the blonde was in pain. he didn’t like being lied too, but the fact that the man was so nonchalant about his pain irked him more.  
“you shouldn’t have come”  
jensen’s head jerked up before the blonde suddenly deflated a bit before nodding.  
“yeah...sorry man, i didn’t mean to bother you i’ll-”  
cougar shook his head at the man misinterpreting what he said.  
“no, you are in pain. you should have stayed in bed.”  
smirking a little, jensen said.  
“ah you care, but seriously dude, im fine...just a little sore.”  
cougar continued to glare a little at the blonde. jensen slouched back against the window seal before changing the topic.  
“you getting out tomorrow?”  
cougar sighed and nodded.  
“cool cool. guess i’ll have to go down and bug mr. coma patient”  
snorting cougar shook his head. he sent an ill impressed look when jensen said.  
“all things considered, wont be much different...you don’t talk all that much.”  
the blonde gave him a knowing look. rolling his eyes cougar said.  
“idiota.”  
“i know im awesome aren’t i?”  
sighing he shook his head at the blonde before reclining in his own bed. finally after a moment he asked.  
“how much longer for you?”  
“hmm? oh until i break free? uh about a week i think...they wont really tell me nothin, real mean of them if you ask me. i mean how hard is it to just tell me how long im down for? not that hard of a question, not like im asking for them to estimate when mr. coma will wake up. nope just simple how long am i going to be your hostage and do i get a phone call before or after you torture me with that slop you call food?”  
snorting cougar shook his head at the dramatic blonde man.   
“don’t tell me you’ve been eating that shit? it’ll fry your brain man, i tell you it will.”  
rolling his eyes cougar was suddenly reminded of his previous conversation with clay. the man had wanted him to ask jensen some things. he figured now as a good as any.  
“why do you come here? why not rest?”  
jensen looked at him a moment as if appraising him of something before he shrugged and answered.  
“laying about’s not going to make me feel any better ya know? i mean if it hurts it hurts. besides i hate sitting still, i’d rather be up and in pain and doing shit than laying about still in pain with nothing to do.”  
shaking his head cougar replied.  
“you will not heal this way”  
jensen considered it a moment before saying.  
“i guess, but its not like i have a team waiting for me to heal up. it’ll be a while before anyone needs me again and by then i’ll be ready to go back into the field. “  
frowning cougar asked.  
“have you never stayed long with a team?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“nah, not really...i mean i think the longest i lasted with one team was six months, not that long really...i don’t mind though...i get to go a lot of different places, do a lot of different things. its nice”  
cougar didn’t comment on the fact that the man’s posture and tone of voice said otherwise. cougar was good at reading people, it was part of his job as a sniper, but he’d learned to be observant to people around him because of his lack of speaking when around others. you could learn a lot about someone by watching them. everything about jensen right then spoke of tiredness, pain, rejection...he wasn’t okay with how things were going, he was simply coasting. sighing cougar said.  
“you will find a team”  
jensen shrugged his shoulders, glancing out the window to break eye contact. it didn’t go unnoticed, but cougar didn’t mention it.   
“m’not so sure about that man...hey”  
he turned around and with a shocked look said.  
“i never got your name”  
smirking cougar said.  
“si”  
snorting jensen replied.  
“ha ha smart ass. c’mon you already know mine”  
nodding his head, cougar said.  
“carlos alvarez...my team calls me cougar”  
jensen blinked a moment before tilting his head and saying.  
“why cougar?”  
smirking he replied.  
“i am known well in climbing up things for a better vantage point and jumping down from great heights when needed.”  
“damn, that must be tricky with your gear”  
nodding his head cougar replied.  
“si, it can be”  
jensen smirked and said.  
“nice to meet ya cougar”  
“si same to you”  
jensen turned to look back out the window before commenting.  
“so how high would you have to climb to get the best vantage point on someone’s ass?”  
snorting cougar shook his head at the blondes crazy question. soon after, the blonde took off on another tangent and cougar let him talk himself around in circles as he pleased. occasionally offering up a word here or there based on what the man was saying or if he was asked an actual question.

it was a few hours later when cougar’s door came open, jensen tensed fearing the nurses that were undoubtedly looking for him arriving. he relaxed when it turned out to only cougar’s teammate pooch. the man grinned at the both of them before shutting the door and saying.  
“see you broke out again”  
jensen smirked before stating.  
“if i had broke out, i’d be out there climbing over that fence and running towards blessed freedom.”  
pooch snorted as jensen motioned towards the barbed wire fence around the compound. walking over to the chair beside cougar’s bed he asked.  
“how you doin cougar?”  
the man smirked before saying.  
“i am well, you?”  
“good, i decided to stop by since i was in the area...got to talk with jo for a bit on the phone’s. woman sure was pissed to find out we weren’t allowed off base while you recuperated.”  
cougar chuckled at his friend before stating.  
“you will have to apologize to her for me”  
he waved his hand at his teammate.  
“nah, she knows it wasn’t your call on it, though she might be thinking it was clay’s and seeing as she was already so worked up, i didn’t have the heart to interrupt.”  
snorting cougar muttered.  
“cobarde (coward)”  
pooch grinned at him before saying.  
“you can curse at me all you like, but it ain’t gonna make me go call jo back to tell her she was wrong...im not stupid cougar. besides, clay can take a beating...lord knows he does with all the woman he finds.”  
cougar nodded at that before saying.  
“mujer loca (crazy woman)”  
pooch nodded his head.  
“yeah definitely loca”  
the two glanced over to jensen when he asked.  
“whats loca?”  
“it means crazy”  
pooch told him. jensen smirked before saying.  
“your co goes after crazy chicks?”  
they both nodded, no hesitation. jensen laughed at them.  
“does he know you call them crazy chicks?”  
again they both nodded. jensen shook his head.  
“that’s great man...does he do that on purpose or is it a case of not being able to sense the crazy?”  
pooch and cougar glanced at one another before they both shrugged at the blonde. jensen smirked.  
“damn...that’s kinda sad, i mean all things considered...he aint bad lookin, why go for the crazies?”  
pooch snorted at jensen before stating.  
“don’t let clay hear you say that”  
jensen raised a brow  
“what that he goes for the crazies?”  
pooch and cougar shook their heads before pooch told the blonde.  
“that he’s not bad looking...i think he likes the whole looking mysteriously rugged...problem is that’s what attracts the crazies. anyways, he gets a little hung up if people say he’s not bad looking. i think part of his brain is broken.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“oh...yeah got it. wont mention it...not a problem....so who’s jo?”  
pooch smiled before saying.  
“she’s my girlfriend, im trying to work up the courage to ask her to marry me”  
jensens smile brightened.  
“congrats dude...how you going to do it?”  
pooch shook his head.  
“no friggin clue...i’ve been asking everybody for their help, but i got nothing and well rogue’s suggestions are just so far off the map that its not even registering on the radar.”  
cougar chuckled at his friend before nodding in agreement. jensen smirked before saying.  
“yeah...big guy seemed a little whats the word...neustoychivyy(unstable), yeah that's it...definitely it. don’t blame you for tossing out his idea’s if they don’t mesh with your girl.”  
both cougar and pooch stared at the boy a moment in confusion.  
“what? what’d i say?”  
pooch grinned before asking.  
“what’d you call rogue?”  
“huh? oh neustoychivyy? its russian for unstable.”  
pooch laughed, slapping his hand down on his thigh in utter amusement. jensen tilted his head to the side as he appraised the man laughing so uproariously. cougar was smirking at him as well.  
“okay...i feel like im missing something here...”  
cougar nodded.  
“si”  
giving the sniper a glare he ignored pooch’s continued laughter to ask.  
“are you going to tell me what?”  
“no”  
snorting jensen said.  
“im ordering that damn dictionary cougar...i swear i will.”  
chuckling cougar nodded to the blonde, but pooch finally got a hold of himself to say.  
“sorry...sorry man, its just once you get to know rogue you realize you don’t really need to know him to get him...unstable fits him pretty well most of the time. dude’s got anger issues, no doubt about that, but he’s got a clear head most of the time...just don’t let him around anything sharp and pointy. he’s real good with knives.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“got it...no sharp and pointy...um does he understand russian?”  
chuckling pooch shrugged his shoulders.  
“no clue dude. he might, i mean he’s been around nearly as long as clay and clay has a good grasp on quite a few languages so i’d be careful.”  
the blonde smirked and gave a half hearted salute to pooch who just snorted at the movement. turning to his sniper pooch said.  
“did they say what time i can come get you?”  
cougar nodded his head.  
“si, four”  
“cool, i’ll be here a little before so i can help you down to the jeep. crutches are a bitch”  
“amen to that”  
jensen muttered. pooch chuckled at the blonde before suddenly asking.  
“where are you stationed at?”  
jensen looked at pooch a moment before finally stating.  
“um well, they put my gear back in the barracks since i’m done with the team i was with. so i’ll be there until im needed again.”  
pooch frowned at that before asking.  
“who’s going to give you a lift back to the barracks?”  
jensen shrugged his shoulders, though he couldn’t completely mask the wince it caused him. seeing the man wince pooch shook his head.  
“dude you should still be in bed if it hurts to move like that.”  
jensen sighed before saying.  
“oh come on, i hate it in there....i’d much rather be in here breaking the rules and harassing cougar.”  
snorting at the man both cougar and pooch disregarded the man’s claims of harassment. pooch however did say.  
“you got a roommate that’s bothersome or something?”  
jensen sighed, he figured that he couldn’t outright avoid the question so he finally said.  
“he’s just an ass, i’d rather wander the halls then be stuck with him 24/7.”  
nodding his head the bald headed man asked.  
“you work with him before then?”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah, been a while, but hey im hard to forget.”  
the blonde said with a smirk. shaking his head at the blonde pooch suggested.  
“why don’t you request to have cougars room once he’s released?”  
jensen opened his mouth to offer some half hearted reply to the men, when the door swung open and the blonde stiffened. the nurse scowled at him before barking out.  
“corporal, do i need to contact your co?”  
jensen sighed.  
“no maam”  
nodding she pointed out the door. jensen slid off the window seal, wincing a bit before hobbling his way a crossed the room. he paused just long enough to tell pooch.  
“figure out what her favorite flower is, there’s tons of those flower garden’s open to the public. better than a bouquet and she gets a ring all at once too.”  
he smirked before hobbling out only to be followed out by the nurse. pooch blinked a moment before turning to cougar and said.  
“damn...that’s not half bad.”  
“si”


	2. bringing home a stray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after meeting jensen and becoming curious about the strange man, cougar watches and listens to the man as he continues to seek shelter in his hospital room. when it comes time for cougar to return to his base house, the sniper is conflicted with leaving the strange man behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay second chapter is up, just so you know the whole story is already complete. its just a matter of me uploading all of it. there is a good chance that i'll just upload the whole darn thing in one go, cause im like that. enjoy.

cougar was surprised when jensen didn’t come to visit him the following day. he was about to be released, pooch was due any moment. as if summoned, the man waltzed into his room a smirk on his face.  
“cougar, you ready to get outta here?”  
nodding his head, he pulled the crutches he’d been given earlier over to himself and swung himself up off the bed. balancing himself with the crutches, he nodded to pooch that he was ready. the man smirked and twirled the set of car key’s he had around his finger.  
“cool. lets get out of here then.”  
cougar had made it a few paces towards the door when he paused and turned to ask pooch.  
“i wish to say goodbye to jensen”  
pooch’s eyebrows raised at that, cougar wasn’t normally the talkative type or the kind to be held up by pleasantries. shrugging he said.  
“no problem. we can get his room number from the nurses station.”  
slowly they made their way down the hallway, cougar was annoyed by the slow progress due to the crutches, but didn’t push himself. once they were finally in front of the desk, he let pooch ask.  
“we’d like to know corporal jake jensen’s room number please”  
the nurse looked up to them, smiled and then seemed to realize what they were asking. she pursed her lips before muttering.  
“i doubt he’s in there, but your welcome to try i guess. room 207.”  
nodding his head, pooch said thank you to the disgruntled nurse and slowly they made their way down the hallway. once outside the room, pooch asked.  
“do we knock? i mean its not just his room right?”  
cougar nodded his head and pooch sighed before knocking on the door. it was quiet a moment before they heard a grunted.  
“come in”  
opening the door for cougar, the two made their way in. they could see the rumpled bed that was presumably meant for jensen, his roommate was glaring at them from his own bed. his arm wrapped in bandages and braced against his chest in a sling. his leg in a near full length cast, wedged over pillows in the elevated bed. the man glared before demanding to know.  
“who are you and what the fuck do you want”  
pooch rolled his eyes at the man’s bravado before asking.  
“you know where jensen is?”  
the man glared hotly at them a moment before sneering.  
“you lookin for the little faggot? he’s probably off in some closet somewhere fuckin a broom handle.”  
pooch glared at the man, while cougar the normally quiet one barked out in a slightly raised voice.  
“el no es un marica usted imbecil, ell es mas listo que su saco entero de la carne usted llama un cuerpo ( he is not a faggot you imbecile, he is smarter than your entire meat sack you call a body)”  
pooch glanced to his angry teammate, who was glaring at the stunned man a crossed the room. he had no idea what cougar had just said and it was obvious that the other man didn’t either cause he scowled before saying.  
“what he your fuck buddy? did i hurt your little feelings faggot?”  
snorting cougar didn’t bother to reply to the man before turning his attention to pooch and saying.  
“we should find jensen”  
nodding his head, pooch motioned for the man to head back out into the hall. the man on the bed snorted at them.  
“that’s right, go running with your tails between your legs...you faggots gotta stick together right? always need someone to suck your dick and take it up the ass for ya.”  
gritting his teeth, cougar was prevented from doing anything to the man when his teammate turned and with little hesitation. slammed his finger down on the power button on the bed. the man started yelling holy hell as his leg was jarred by the bed beginning to change position.  
“shut the fuck up you asshole...he’s our friend and its obvious why he didn’t want to spend time in here with the likes of you. hope your leg feels better.”  
the man was screaming by the time they hobbled out the room. cougar was smirking as he maneuvered down the hall. they paid no attention to the frantic steps of a nurse going into room 207 behind them. coming to a halt at the end of the hallway. cougar turned to pooch and sighed.  
“i do not know where he’d go”  
nodding his head pooch shrugged.  
“well you could take a seat and i can go check your old room see if he’s hold himself up there again...other than that, we don’t know much about him cougar...he could be anywhere.”  
nodding, cougar ambled over to one of the chairs lining the hallways and sat. once he was sure that cougar was settled, pooch made his way back to cougars room in the search for jensen.

******************

cougar sighed as he watched pooch round the corner headed back to his room. he hoped that the mechanic could find the blonde man there, because like his friend had said. they didn’t know enough about the blonde man to be able to figure out where he would go. he glanced up when he saw a nurse walking down the hallway, a cart being pushed in front of her. he tilted his head. this was one of the nurses that always seemed to be able to find jensen. smirking he called out.  
“nurse”  
the woman looked up from her cart and smiled at him. easily making her way over to him to ask if he was alright.   
“si, i am fine, i was looking for jensen, he’s not in his room though.”  
the woman pursed her lips at that, which made cougar smile.   
“well if he’s not in his room or yours seeing as your here...well he’s probably on the damn roof again...i don’t know how he has the strength to get himself up there.”  
cougar’s eyes widened at that.  
“the roof?”  
the nurse nodded her head.  
“yeah, he shuffles his way up there somehow. he doesn’t take the elevator, he knows the nurses station has a clear view so he has to take one of the stairwells...four stories up, he’s not doing himself any favors doing that...don’t you worry, i’ll send someone up to go get him back down here.”  
“down here?”  
pooch said as he came a crossed them. the nurse smiled before telling the man about where jensen was most likely at. the bald headed man shook his head.  
“we can go get him, we’ll take the elevator...i’ll make sure he gets back down here alright?”  
the nurse smiled at him and nodded.  
“thank you.”  
he smirked, before helping cougar get himself back to his feet and balanced on the crutches. as they ambled their way towards the elevator pooch muttered.  
“dumb ass is up on the roof?”  
nodding cougar said.  
“he takes the stairs to avoid detection”  
pooch looked at him oddly before he saw what cougar meant as they stood waiting for the elevator to arrive. there was no way for the blonde man to get a ride from the elevator without revealing himself to the nurses on duty. he would have to take the lesser guarded stairwells.  
“isnt that like three stories u-”  
“four”  
nodding his head.  
“great...so that idiot’s been going up and down four stories of stairs when he can barely hobble from the window to the door? what the hell is wrong with that kid?”  
shaking his head they boarded the elevator and rode it to the last floor. the small stairway to the roof access, was troublesome for cougar, but the man refused to be left behind. shaking his head pooch muttered under his breath about stubborn men as he helped his teammate up the stairs. once they got the door open, they stepped out onto the roof. glancing around they frowned at the lack of blonde man standing around. glancing to one another they were about to ask what to do now when they both twisted about at the sound of an amused voice.  
“awww did you come to say goodbye?”  
they stared a moment before pooch yelled out.  
“what the fuck jensen how’d you get up there?”  
the man smirked down to them from on top of the access door’s shed.   
“i have my ways...im spiderman in disguise, promise not to tell”  
pooch just gaped at him but cougar muttered.  
“idiota”  
“i know awesome right?”  
snorting, cougar looked to pooch who was still just staring at the blond like he was nuts.  
“can you help him down?”  
pooch seemed to jar back to reality because he nodded his head at cougar before looking up at jensen.  
“stay there”  
the blonde rolled his eyes before asking.  
“are you going to throw me over your shoulder like a damsel in distress and carry me off into the sunset?”  
cougar smirked at the blonde while his teammate muttered under his breath about what he was going to do to the blonde man as he climbed the access ladder to the roof. once he was on the roof did he shake his head at jensen.  
“how’d you get up here?”  
the blonde rolled his eyes before stating.  
“how’d you get up here? the ladder duh”  
glaring at the blonde, he motioned for him to get up. smirking, jensen slowly maneuvered himself onto his knee’s grimacing as he did so before steadily rising to his feet. pooch shook his head.  
“your a dumb ass man, i can understand not wanting to be in the same room as that jackass, but the roof? really?”  
smirking faintly despite his pain jensen said.  
“really”  
pooch helped the man over to the ladder before saying.  
“im going to head down first, that way if you slip i can brace you”  
jensen nodded his head before saying.  
“i’ve been fine”  
pooch shook his head before muttering.  
“just do it jensen”  
the blonde smirked at him, but followed the man’s orders. it took a while longer than pooch’s assent to the rooftop, but they finally settled down on the roof itself. pooch guided the hobbling man around to where cougar was leaning on the wall. the man smirked at them.  
“idiota”  
jensen grinned at him before saying.  
“totally a perfect vantage point dude...land it right in his ass man”  
pooch looked utterly confused between the two as cougar chuckled at the blonde’s statement.  
“alright, lets go you two...i promised to return jensen to his room, and you and me are already late getting back. clay’s going to be having kittens by now.”  
jensen’s smile faded a bit as he said.  
“go on, i’ll be fine, i promise i’ll stay off the higher roof okay?”  
pooch shook his head.  
“uh huh. i promised that nurse, i ain’t having her come after me. march”  
sighing, jensen hobbled his way slowly beside cougar as they made their way inside and then got to the set of stairs. jensen sighed before admitting.  
“uh in light of not wanting to make an ass out of myself...im going to need some help...the going up is the easy part...down not so much.”  
pooch shook his head before making sure cougar was alright, once he was sure the man could manage, he helped the blonde slowly down the stairs. the blonde was grimacing fiercely by the time they landed on the flat floor below. he panted a bit before giving a half hearted thumbs up. pooch snorted before asking.  
“when’s the last time you had anything for pain?”  
jensen shook his head. frowning pooch asked.  
“jensen pain med’s. when?”  
the blonde shook his head again as he caught his breath before muttering out.  
“i don’t know...days”  
both pooch and cougar froze at that, the mechanic was the first to reach out and grasp the blonde startling him. he jerked his head up and said.  
“wha?”  
“its been days since you had anything for pain?”  
pooch cried out as he braced the man against the nearby wall. jensen nodded his head, though it appeared to both cougar and pooch that the blonde didn’t see anything wrong with that.  
“dude, what the hell?”  
cougar nodded beside pooch, but the blonde just frowned at them before seemingly catching on. he shrugged before saying.  
“would you want to be doped up with an ass hat like that in the room? he might be down and out, but his buddies aren’t.”  
both men scowled at him before pooch questioned.  
“did they threaten you? hurt you?”  
jensen shook his head before pushing off the wall to amble forward.  
“come on guys, im fine...lets get going so you can go stop your co from having kittens, because believe me that is not normal. its technically physically impossible seeing as he’s male and all, granted its impossible for woman too, but that’s more genetics and not physiology ya know.”  
“jensen”  
the blonde turned to look at the man who had caught up to him. cougar who was balanced on his crutches reached out and gently touched his face, causing him to hiss as the black eye stung. the man pulled his hand back to say.  
“you did not fall amigo ”  
upon opening his eyes he saw the concern in both of the men’s eyes. swallowing thickly, jensen rambled.  
“did you know that the average height a person can fall before succumbing to life altering injuries is-”  
“jensen”  
he snapped his jaw shut at pooch’s shout. he looked down to the floor before muttering.  
“its fine”  
he tensed when he felt someone’s hand land on his shoulder.  
“come on...we’ll figure this shit out downstairs after we get you something for the pain.”  
jensen shook his head as he looked up to pooch and cougar.  
“no...look im fine, really, i’ve had worse okay? i don’t want to be drugged up-not-not around them alright?”  
pooch was frowning at him, which lead the blonde to believe that his request was going to be denied. he glanced to cougar to see the man shaking his head. biting his lip he tried one last time.  
“please guys, trust me...this ain’t bad okay? this is just the same ole shit on a different day. besides these injuries aren’t that bad to begin with. they just ache is all. “  
pooch turned away from them to push the elevator button, jensen sagged at the dismissal. once they got in and the floor was selected, pooch spoke up.  
“how long until your released?”  
jensen looked up to the man before saying.  
“i don’t know...four-five days.”  
nodding his head pooch asked.  
“anything life threatening? infection, blood loss?”  
shaking his head jensen said.  
“no, im over that shit...its just the stitches and the mobility issue keeping me here.”  
pooch snorted as he muttered. ‘mobility issue my ass’. jensen smirked at him before saying.  
“i’ll be fine guys, you don’t need to worry about me okay? get back to your place...you’ve gotta be tired from all the walking on those crutches, im sorry man i didn’t think you’d come lookin for me”  
cougar nodded before waving the man off. once the elevator opened, the trio made their way out and towards the nurses station. the head nurse glanced up and scowled at jensen, but as surprisingly cut off by pooch stating.  
“if he’s not here because of life threatening injuries, or injuries that might need amplified care, you can release him into our custody.”  
jensen’s jaw hit the ground as he made to step forward to interject only to be pulled back by cougar, he glanced to the man who shook his head.  
“but-”  
“no”  
they turned back around in time to see the nurse being rebutted by pooch for whatever claim she had made to keep jensen there.  
“i can have my co authorize it if you’d like, but he wont like his time being wasted on something like this.”  
she glared at him before looking up to jensen. the blonde swallowed before offering up a faint smile. she snorted before turning her attention back to pooch.  
“you want him. fine. he’s all yours.”  
she offered up a few slips of paper for pooch to sign before the man turned around and said.  
“awesome...lets get going”  
jensen just stared at the man like he was nuts. cougar smirked before nudging the man into action. jensen nodded and slowly turned and followed after the mechanic back towards the elevator and towards apparent freedom.

**************************

the trio made their way out of the medical center. pooch was keeping an eye on both of them, but was more concerned for jensen than cougar. he knew the sniper could handle himself on the crutches and was more concerned about the blonde hobbling alongside the man. he twirled the keys around his finger before saying.  
“this way, there’s a bench and i can pull the jeep up right along side it.”  
the men nodded and after being lead a little further down the walkway were brought to said bench. once he made sure they were both seated did pooch tell them.  
“i’ll be right back, stay put”  
cougar nodded while jensen gave a salute to the mechanic. pooch rolled his eyes at the blonde before heading off to bring the jeep around. jensen smirked before twisting to look at cougar.  
“you guys are crazy you know that right?”  
cougar raised a brow at that before saying.  
“your the one with no pain medicine”  
jensen snorted at him before saying.  
“yeah and your the one’s who just tried to adopt me out of the hospital. im not even your teammate, hell we’ve never even worked together. we only met because i stumbled into your room.”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders at that before saying.  
“you would have hurt yourself by staying”  
“what in the hospital? isn’t that kinda backwards logic cougar? the point of a hospital is to get better.”  
the sniper shook his head.  
“you were not resting”  
jensen sighed at him before muttering.  
“yeah, i know...but its hard to rest when you cant close your own damn eyes in your room.”  
cougar nodded.  
“si, you will sleep better now that you are out of there.”  
jensen didn’t bother to tell him that things wouldn’t be all that much better in the barracks. instead just smiling at the sniper. he admitted to the man.  
“i take back what i said earlier, your way better than mr. coma.”  
snorting cougar gave the man a peculiar look at his statement. jensen smiled brightly to him, they both turned when an army issue jeep pulled up. pooch jumped out and came around to open up the back door for them.  
“alright pile in jensen, cougar your up front.”  
the sniper nodded his head, ambling his way into the front seat with only a little help from pooch to contain the crutches. the man rounded them up and set them in the back. jensen climbed gingerly into the vehicle and sighed as he rested against the interior.   
“you in?”  
pooch asked him, jensen nodded and gave a thumbs up. smirking pooch shut the door and made his way back around to the drivers side. he hoped in and shut the door.  
“seat belts.”  
jensen snorted.  
“seriously? were on base.”  
pooch glanced behind him to glare at the blonde. jensen’s eyes widened before he nodded.  
“sure..uh no problem with the seat belts.”  
he buckled himself in as pooch turned back around and started the car back up. cougar glance over his shoulder to jensen and smirked. the blonde stuck his tongue out at the cocky sniper. the man chuckled before turning back around. pooch drove away from the hospital, whistling under his breath as he drove a crossed the compound. jensen frowned after a bit before saying.  
“uh...pooch?”  
“hmm?”  
“barracks are the other way dude”  
pooch looked up into the rear view mirror to catch the man’s eyes before saying.  
“yeah i know”  
jensen nodded his head before saying.  
“okay...uh you do remember that’s where i live right?”  
pooch snorted before glancing away from the rear view mirror to look at cougar who was smirking in his seat, though jensen couldn’t see it. the sniper muttered.  
“idiota”  
jensen frowned before saying.  
“hey...are you guys kidnapping me cause that’s like not cool dude.”  
rolling his eyes pooch looked back up into the rear view mirror to say.  
“we cant kidnap you from your own base dumb ass. i know where the barracks are jensen, but were not going to the barracks. were going to our house on base.”  
he motioned to him and cougar. jensen nodded.  
“umm alright? you gonna take me back later then cause that is a hell of a walk compared to the hospital.”  
pooch snorted at him before focusing on his driving. jensen frowned, unsure what exactly was going on. not ten minutes later they were pulling up in front of a house.  
“alright, get out were here.”  
pooch slid out of the drivers side and made his way around to dig out cougars crutches and hand them to the man before motioning for jensen to follow. the blonde shook his head as he hobbled after the pair. once the door was open, pooch ushered cougar and jensen in first before following after them and shutting the door.  
jensen glanced around, it was a typical army supplied house. the interior was sparse, but there was furniture and everything seemed in order. there wasn’t any mess lying about like many of the barracks he’d had the pleasure of staying in. he jumped a little when pooch clapped him gently on the shoulder.  
“come on, lets go get something to eat...rogue was cooking when i left.”  
“he cooks?”  
jensen asked as he followed after the men. pooch nodded his head as they walked into the kitchen area. clay was seated at the table, a stack of files in front of him as he went over a few sheets of paper. he didn’t bother to glance up as he said.  
“welcome back cougar.”  
“si gracias”  
pooch pulled out two chairs for them to sit on before finding his way over to the fridge to pull out some can’s of soda. rogue was busy cooking but did look up enough to see that they had a guest he grunted before saying.  
“what you breaking out of the hospital now?”  
jensen smirked before pointing to pooch as clay suddenly realized that there was someone else in their house and just who it was.  
“not my fault, all him.”  
pooch snorted as he gave cougar and jensen a soda before cracking open his own and sitting down.  
“dude seriously...i got your ass off of that roof and your ratting me out?”  
jensen smirked before stating calmly.  
“i was perfectly fine staying on said roof, you didn’t have to come up and play knight in shining armor ya know.”  
clay frowned between the two men before barking out.  
“pooch what is going on here?”  
pooch snorted at jensen before turning his attention to his co.  
“the idiot here climbed four stories of stairs to escape the nurses and his ass hat of a roomie in the hospital. then he climbed a ladder to the maintenance shed roof. all while not having had pain medication in a couple days because his ass hat of roomie made him uncomfortable.”  
jensen uttered a ‘hey’ as pooch was talking about him, but a glare from clay had him slamming his mouth shut. once pooch was done, clay turned his eyes on the blonde.  
“anything you’d care to add corporal?”  
jensen swallowed a bit before muttering.  
“uh...no sir.”  
nodding his head clay asked.  
“how long have you been hiking up to the roof without pain medication?”  
the blonde man rubbed the back of his head nervously before stating.  
“um...a day or two before cougar showed up and i stumbled into his room to hide.”  
sighing clay shook his head before asking pooch.  
“you signed for him?”  
“yep”  
nodding his head clay asked jensen.  
“no one is expecting you to report in?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“i mean i live in the barracks sir, so im sure they’ll get notice from the hospital and all that and then they’ll send someone to look for me...i tried to tell pooch to drop me off-”  
pooch snorted before interrupting.  
“yeah and how would i know you weren’t going to just go waltzing off after i dropped you off?”  
jensen scowled at him before saying.  
“what you my babysitter now?”  
there was an edge to the man’s voice which hadn’t been there previously. pooch smirked at having riled the man, but clay intervened.  
“were responsible for you since pooch signed you out. the co of the barracks will have the paperwork and know to look here. in the meantime, your going to actually take it easy. no more roof climbing, pooch already filled cougar’s prescription for his ankle. we can give you some of that for your pain, your not allergic to anything are you?”  
jensen shook his head, nodding clay said.  
“good, stay out of trouble while your here and we wont have any problems then. we clear soldier?”  
“yes sir”  
the blonde muttered. clay gave a firm nod before returning to his work as if the whole conversation hadn’t just taken place. jensen glared at pooch who smirked over the rim of his soda can. sticking out his tongue, jensen popped the tab on his soda and took a drink of his own. pooch shook his head at the man’s child like behavior before asking rogue.  
“what ya making dude?”  
rogue was quite a while before saying.  
“what kind of dumb ass question is that pooch? you know what im making?”  
pooch smirked and winked to jensen before saying.  
“really? nothing new dude? i thought you were watching the cooking channel the other day...something about tandori chicken right?”  
jensen smirked when rogue muttered under his breath before calling out.  
“go fuck yourself pooch, better yet...get the fuck out of the kitchen before i start throwing steak knives at your fuckin head.”  
pooch was all smiles, jensen shook his head at the man as he glanced between the bald mechanic and the angry sic who was bustling around the kitchen. pooch didn’t let up though before saying.  
“you really think you would want to do that? i mean we could barely cut up that steak you made last week with those knives...got to be duller than shit now cause of it.”  
jensen’s eyes widened when a knife came sailing through the air to slam into the wall by pooch’s head. pooch grinned before calling out.  
“you missed.”  
he heard the man growl out something before he shouted.  
“damn it pooch!”  
“pooch outside”  
clay uttered as he shuffled some papers around. the man smirked and nodded his head.  
“sure thing boss...come on guys-best to leave rogue to his culinary delights he’s preparing.”  
the man chuckled on his way out, grabbing his and cougars soda before waltzing out of the room. jensen hobbled to follow the men as cougar had snatched up his crutches and followed after the bald man. he grabbed his soda off of the table as he made to catch up with them. he looked this way and that before catching sight of them down a hallway. he hobbled after them and stood in the doorway of a room. pooch was sitting on the edge of a bed, cougar just settling into the opposite on. pooch waved him over. nodding he made his way over to sit beside the man on the bunk. the room was bare on that side, cougars side was sparsely decorated with belongings.  
“don’t worry were safe in here...rogue wont come in cougars room.”  
jensen nodded his head before turning to ask.  
“why?”  
smirking pooch shrugged before stating.  
“that’s between them. anyways, you can bunk here tonight.”  
jensen just stared at him a moment before saying.  
“but-the barracks”  
shaking his head pooch replied.  
“you heard clay, were responsible for you right now...its not like anyone in the barracks is going to keep you out of trouble while you heal up right? they’re too busy, so you stay here for a bit. its not a big deal dude. and cougar doesn’t mind sharing a room with you.”  
jensen glanced to the sniper to ask.  
“you don’t mind?”  
cougar shook his head as he got comfortable on his bunk. sighing as he leaned against his own pillow. he glanced over and smirked when he saw his hat. snatching it up he placed it on his head before muttering towards pooch.  
“gracias por salvar mi sombrero(thank you for saving my hat)”  
pooch shrugged his shoulders before saying.  
“no problem.”  
jensen glanced between them before asking.  
“you understood him?”  
pooch smirked before shaking his head.  
“well not all of it, but i know him well enough to figure it out. he was just thanking me for taking care of his hat right cougar?”  
“si”  
the man replied. jensen smirked before saying.  
“it is a pretty awesome hat, where’d you get it?”  
“madre”  
blinking jensen looked to pooch who chuckled.  
“his mom”  
making an ‘ah’ face jensen smirked at the man looking at them from below the brim of his hat.  
“okay cool...i got some shirts that my sister got me and my niece sent me a shirt for her soccer team.”  
“you have a sister and niece?”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, been just us for...well forever. sister got pregnant by some low life who bailed and even though it hurt, she’s better for it. besides beth is the world to her and me. cant imagine a life without that little girl.”  
pooch smirked at him before saying.  
“jo wants kids someday”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“yeah...its a rush man...i never thought i’d be able to handle a baby, but when beth came along-well you don’t got much of a choice man. they scream at all hours of the day for no reason sometimes other than to break your very soul. they can smell fear...remember that”  
chuckling pooch shook his head at the blonde man.  
“how old is she?”  
“eight, god seems like forever ago she was just a wiggling little thing...hard to believe she’s playing sports and becoming just as hard headed as her mama...my sister man is she something. do not piss her off...she will put the fear of god in you, where in she takes the place of god.”  
both men started laughing at him. jensen looked between them before saying.  
“dude im serious...i have never been more terrified in my life then when i’d had to tell her that the feds were at the door and it was because of me...granted she didn’t get the whole hacking thing, she just caught the ‘illegal’ thing and my ass was toast.”  
shaking in laughter pooch said.  
“did you try to explain it?”  
snorting jensen said.  
“dude, piece of advice for your future wife, never try to tell them their wrong about something. they say your in the dog house, your in the dog house. i wasn’t about to try and say sarah, i know what i did was wrong, but really its not as bad as they’re making out to be. sure its illegal, but i mean why is that really? its not like i hurt anybody right? she would start hitting me upside my skull before i got done saying her name.”  
snorting pooch told the blonde.  
“well of course she didn’t like the idea of you getting in trouble with the feds man...had to have scared her shitless.”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, when i enlisted and told her about all the hacking i was doing here for the government she just gave me a look like ‘at least its no longer illegal now’. like really? no faith in my skills. i never got caught all those other times i did it...im good man, she just worries too much.”  
pooch stared at him a moment before looking to cougar to see the man frowning.  
“wait wait...you hacked the fed’s again?”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah”  
“why the hell would you do that dude?”  
the blonde smirked before saying.  
“i wanted to know what they were saying about me”  
pooch stared at him like he was crazy before shaking his head.  
“seriously, you are nuts dude.”  
“they didn’t catch me...and if i happened to change the lead investigators name to maurice after he was an ass to sarah...well that’s totally on him.”  
pooch guffawed at that before asking.  
“how the hell did you do that?”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“i have ways, so many ways. i could have done a lot worse mind you. that was being nice. might take him a while, but he could get it changed back...course its harder seeing as he doesn’t officially exist anymore due to not having the right paperwork to document himself...but oh well.”  
pooch just stared at him in shock.  
“damn...remind me not to piss you off.”  
jensen smirked as pooch and cougar both nodded at him. he waved them off.  
“chill, i haven’t done shit like that in...huh four weeks? yeah four weeks.”  
snorting cougar muttered.  
“idiota”  
jensen smirked at him.  
“i know im awesome dude, don’t have to keep saying it.”  
pooch snorted before opening his mouth to tell the kid what cougar was really saying only to catch cougar smirk and shake of his head. pooch rolled his eyes before asking jensen.  
“so who pissed you off four weeks ago?”  
the blonde thought a moment before saying.  
“oh it was the last team i was with...before i got hurt that is. we were still on base and our demolitions expert was being a right bastard so i might have sent proof of his affair to his wife and girlfriend who believed he was divorced...”  
shaking his head pooch asked.  
“how the hell did you find that out?”  
jensen smirked and said  
“magic my man...magic.”  
snorting they were interrupted from starting another conversation by rogue yelling down the hallway.  
“get your pansy asses in here if you want food.”  
sighing both cougar and pooch shook their head.  
“dinners ready”  
pooch muttered. laughing jensen nodded his head.

***********************

it was awkward to eat dinner with strangers, granted he’d met them before, but he’d really only had in depth conversations with cougar and pooch and even those weren’t really in depth. still it was nice to have a meal with people not glaring daggers at him, well minus rogue who appeared to do that to everyone. clay was still doing paperwork while eating, which was rather surprising to jensen as all the previous co’s he’d come a crossed never spent this much time on the required paperwork. unable to stand the silence anymore the blonde asked.  
“that equipment manifests?”  
clay looked up from the paper to raise a brow.  
“you know about those?”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“sure, i’ve helped balance some a few times...you wouldn’t believe some of the shit people request. i shit you not one team requested umbrellas.”  
clay snorted at the blonde. jensen smirked before saying.  
“there’s ways around that you know? its all code word...you write it down a certain way its more likely to get filled.”  
clay arched a brow at that.  
“really?”  
jensen nodded before holding out a hand.  
“can i?”  
nodding he handed the form over to the kid. jensen looked it up and down a bit before commenting.  
“why do you need new radios? they damaged?”  
clay nodded.  
“yeah, our last tech tried to fix them, but nothing came of it. we cant go another mission with the one’s we’ve got.”  
jensen nodded his head before saying.  
“i can take a look at them if you want...i might be able to fix them. the less big ticket item’s you have the better. if they see a bunch of those they tend to write off the whole report and ignore things that you actually do need. like these car parts...those you probably need so put them up top, the other stuff doesn’t seem that bad...if i can fix your radio’s you shouldn’t have a problem getting the rest of this.”  
he handed the paper back to clay who nodded, it was rogue who barked out.  
“why you helping us?”  
jensen glanced to him before saying.  
“your letting me crash here until im ready to go out again. least i can do is help out, besides i hate having nothing to do. and since they seem to not want me climbing on roofs anymore, i’ll just settle for some techy stuff.”  
he smirked to the scarred man. rogue grunted at the blonde before saying.  
“fine, have at em, they ain’t gonna work no matter what you do”  
jensen shrugged a bit, the tension back in his face as he did so. clay was the one to call him on it.  
“after your done eating, take something.”  
jensen opened his mouth to retort, but clay uttered.  
“that’s an order corporal”  
sighing jensen said.  
“yes sir”  
nodding clay went back to his reports. pooch and cougar grinned as they watched jensen settle back into his meal after being ordered to take pain meds after finishing his meal.   
once things were cleaned up, jensen followed cougar back to ‘their’ room, and slumped on the bunk that was to be his for the next couple days.  
“so where’d pooch go?”  
cougar looked at him from a crossed the room before shrugging. jensen scowled a little, but was interrupted from saying anything by pooch coming in with a crate in his arms.  
“i bring the sad little corpses we once called radios”  
jensen perked up at that, before letting pooch sit down the box in between them. jensen blinked before picking up one of the half demolished radios.  
“damn...what’d he use a sledgehammer?”  
pooch snickered.  
“what do you need to try and save these poor things?”  
“a miracle?”  
snorting pooch gave him a look. jensen nodded.  
“standard tool kit, i’d prefer my stuff, but that’ll do.”  
“kay, i’ll go grab my stuff.”  
nodding absently he looked the radio over this way and that. the quite voice from a crossed the room jarring him from his thoughts.  
“can you fix it?”  
jensen looked to the sniper and smirked.  
“i’ll do my best...though you might get more use out of them as target practice.”  
cougar chuckled at him. pooch returned a few minutes later with a small kit in hand. he offered it to the blonde before telling them.  
“alright, im going to go get you both a dose of pain medicine and then you two can trip balls for all i care.”  
jensen snorted as pooch went in search of the pills.  
“dude what did they prescribe you?”  
the sniper shook his head. a few minutes later they both had two pills in hand and another soda each.   
“okay, your both set, you need something let me know. i’ll be down the hall working on some stuff. no getting up and walking around unless you really need too alright? your both supposed to be resting.”  
jensen was already absorbed by the radio’s so he didn’t bother to retort sarcastically to the man, but cougar nodded his head to the transport specialist before saying.  
“we will behave.”  
nodding his head pooch waved and headed out of the room. cougar watched the blonde for a few moments as he tinkered with this and that before sliding his hat down over his eyes and sighing.  
it was early in the morning when cougar came awake, he frowned beneath his hat before sliding it up his head to glance over. the light on the bedside table by jensen’s bed was on and the blonde was fiddling away with a radio. frowning he glanced to his alarm clock and sighed. it was three in the morning.  
“jensen, you need to sleep”  
the blonde had his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he worked.  
“mmmhmm”  
he said in response as he continued to tinker. shaking his head, cougar sat up and got a hold of his crutches. rolling to his feet he made his way to the bathroom, giving the man a few more minutes to play before he returned. once he was taken care of, he returned and made his way to the man’s bedside. he frowned at the pile of radio’s beside the man. they were no longer a pile of components, but they didn’t look like they’d work either. sighing he tried to get the man’s attention from his project.  
“jensen, time to sleep amigo”  
the blonde looked up at him and blinked.  
“oh hey cougar...wha-oh is it really that late? i get caught up in things a lot of the time...did i keep you awake? did i wake you”  
shaking his head to calm the man.  
“i woke up because i needed the bathroom. now time to sleep”  
jensen nodded his head, finally giving into a yawn. cougar smirked before reaching over to pick up the strewn apart radio in his hands. he gently settled it back into the box pooch had brought it in. jensen startled but then caught onto his plan. he started collecting everything else together and settled it all into the box. he nodded to cougar.  
“thanks man, i’ll work on it some more tomorrow...i mean today....later today”  
nodding, cougar made his way back to his own bed. putting his crutches well within his reach before climbing back into his bed. jensen smirked before settling the box of radio’s beside his bed and maneuvering into the blankets. he clicked off the light before saying.  
“night cougar”  
“buenas noches amigo(goodnight friend)”  
it was a moment later that a mumbled  
“no clue what you just said dude”  
came to his ears. smirking cougar settled into his bed and went back to sleep.


	3. assuming makes an ass out of u and me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after being brought back to the losers house on base, jensen does his best to fit in. still feeling out of place surrounded by strangers who are being nice to him. a altercation with rogue however, changes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yeah third chapter. what will happen next you wonder? well rogue is going to be an ass, but hey its rogue...he's like that sometimes. okay most of the time.

cougar yawned as he woke up slowly, stretching out he winced at the pull on his ankle. rubbing his eyes he sat up in bed before blinking. he stilled only to jerk his head around to see jensen sitting up in bed once more working on the radios. frowning he glanced to the alarm clock. he was the early riser of the team, normally well awake before anyone else thought of getting out of their own beds. it surprised him to see jensen awake and after looking at the alarm clock he wasn’t wrong in assuming that it was still early.  
“how long have you been awake?”  
jensen jumped in his bed before his head jerked up and he sighed.  
“damn man, give me a heart attack...morning.”  
smirking he said.  
“ lo siento (sorry)”  
jensen tilted his head to him. smirking cougar replied.  
“i am sorry for startling you, when did you wake?”  
jensen smirked at him before waving him off by saying.  
“mah, not long.”  
cougar frowned at the blonde who had gone back to working on the radios.  
“are you in pain?”  
jensen shook his head to him. he watched the man steadily for a moment before finally believing the man. jensen wasn’t tense like he had been before. they could wait a while longer before giving him some more medicine for any discomfort he was feeling. leaning down he scooped up his crutches and levered himself out of his bed. he made his way to his dresser to pull out some fresh clothes before saying.  
“i will shower and make coffee”  
he saw the blonde bob his head at him, but no vocal response occurred. snorting he made his way to the bathroom. he knew it would be tricky to manage while balancing, but he’d done it before.  
once he was alone once more jensen sighed. he didn’t want to lie to them, but he’d never been one to sleep much. he couldn’t rest not knowing when an attack might come. so far they’d all been nice to him or at least tolerant. he just didn’t count on that remaining the truth. sooner or later someone would tell him to piss off or worse. once they learned his history, they wouldn’t want him around, it was always the same anyways. he hated it, but he wasn’t one to kick up a fuss. he needed the funds that the army paid him to help support his sister and niece. he’d take whatever was dished out to him, so long as they were taken care of. he liked cougar and pooch, if fixing the radio’s helped them, he was more than glad to help. he just didn’t count on anything more than a place to crash while he healed up a bit. soon he’d be back in the barracks, he had to prepare himself for that.  
cougar made his way slowly down to the kitchen after his shower. when he’d walked by his room, jensen had still been tinkering away. shaking his head he’d proceeded to the kitchen and set up the coffee maker to brew some strong coffee for the team. it wasn’t a requirement that he do this, but in general being the first one up it was a nice gesture to his teammates who relied on the brew more strongly than he did. he wasn’t sure how jensen felt about the drink, but he’d figure that out soon enough. a few minutes later the strong aroma of coffee brewing filled the air. sighing he relaxed against the counters as he watched the coffee pot fill. when it had finished he got down two cups and filled them 3/4’s of the way full. not wanting to risk spilling as he juggled them in one hand by their handles and hobbled along with his crutches. if jensen liked stuff in his coffee he would have to return to add it.   
he entered their room to find it empty, raising a brow he shook his head and hobbled over to set down jensen’s cup of coffee before making his way to his side of the room. once his cup was settled on his side table, he lowered himself back to his bunk and discarded the crutches. sighing he relaxed as he scooped up his coffee mug and drank a gentle sip of hot beverage. he looked up when jensen came back into the room. he smiled at him before noticing his own cup of coffee.  
“thanks dude”  
“no hay problema (no problem)”  
jensen chuckled before saying.  
“totally getting that dictionary”  
cougar smirked as they both enjoyed their morning drink together. he glanced to the box sitting at the foot of jensen’s bed.  
“you are finished?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“no, i need some of my specialty tools from my gear...i was hoping pooch could give me a ride there, if not i can manage, but i want to be able to do a good job on them...i haven’t tested them yet, want to make sure everything’s put back together right before i risk it.”  
cougar nodded his head.  
“pooch will not mind”  
“what will the pooch not mind?”  
pooch said as he leaned against the doorway, a cup of coffee in hand. he lifted it in cheers to cougar who nodded before saying.  
“jensen wishes to get things from the barracks.”  
pooch nodded his head.  
“oh...makes sense...which one are you in- i got some shit to do around here for clay, but if its not too far i can make the trip.”  
jensen shook his head.  
“number ten”  
pooch whistled at that.  
“damn kid, your in no man’s land.”  
jensen chuckled before nodding his head.  
“don’t worry, i can manage it.”  
pooch frowned at that before shaking his head.  
“no way dude. you are not walking all the way there and back and especially not carrying shit. i cant take you, but rogue ain’t doing shit today, he can.”  
jensen seemed to pale at that.  
“no really, i don’t want to bother-”  
pooch snorted before taking off down the hall. jensen glanced to cougar in apprehension. the sniper smirked just as they heard a loud banging and pooch yell.  
“get your lazy ass up, jensen needs a ride.”  
jensen’s eye’s widened before he croaked.  
“he’s going to kill me”  
snorting cougar shook his head.  
“many threats...no actual damage”  
jensen looked at him like he was crazy just as they heard rogue shout out.  
“god damn it leave me the fuck alone i don’t care what the blonde bastard needs....damn it pooch what the fuck! you bastard!”  
pooch came walking by and waved at them, giving jensen a thumbs up. they both saw a pillow tucked under his arm. snorting cougar shook his head at his friends antics. a moment later loud stomping headed their way.  
“oh god, i thought the hospital was bad...its bad to check people out you know only to kill them yourselves i hope you realize.”  
cougar snorted just as rogue entered the room to glare at the both of them.  
“what the fuck do you want?”  
jensen shook his head, waving his arms in a ‘not me’ gesture. cougar however was not so easily intimidated.  
“he needs a ride to barracks ten and back. he has gear he needs.”  
rogue’s glare momentarily went to cougar as the man spoke before returning to jensen.  
“get your ass in gear, if you make me wait i will gut you and throw your body in the ditch as motivation for the rookies. get me?”  
jensen frantically nodded to the angry man until he stalked off down the hallway. jensen slumped as the man stalked off.  
“i hate you and pooch so much right now”  
chuckling cougar advised.  
“date prisa mi amigo (hurry my friend)”  
jensen quirked a brow at him in obvious confusion, but a moment later rogue’s angry voice yelled out.  
“NOW JENSEN!”  
jumping up he glared at the laughing cougar and made his way to the front door. rogue was glaring at him as he stalked out the front of the house after seeing him coming. sighing, jensen walked after the man. he climbed into the front of the jeep and sat as still and quietly as he could as the man skidded the tires on his fast acceleration. swallowing sharply jensen started to ask.  
“so how-”  
“shut up or i hurt you”  
clamping his mouth shut he nodded and turned to look out the window. he was used to people like rouge, people who didn’t want to listen to him talk. the journey to his barracks was silent and tense as they rode a crossed the army base. finally jerking to a stop, jensen winced at the harsh stop. taking a breath he opened the door as he said.  
“i’ll only be a minute”  
he shut his door only to look up startled when he heard the other car door shut and rogue come around he opened his mouth to ask what the man was doing, but rogue stalked up the pathway towards the entrance to the barracks barking over his shoulder.  
“hurry up i don’t have all day”  
nodding he hobbled his way after the man. once they entered it was an entirely different world. people milling about in groups, loud chatter. a t.v. and radio going off a few feet away from each other. paper’s everywhere. rogue sneered until he jerked at hearing his name. he smirked upon seeing someone he knew. he glanced to jensen and said.  
“go get your gear”  
nodding his head, jensen took off only offering a cursory glance towards rogue being greeted with open arms by a small group of soldiers. sighing he hoped they didn’t gossip about him, it was evident that rogue didn’t like him as it was. if the rumor mill started up, well he wouldn’t have a chance in hell in ever visiting pooch or cougar again. his ongoing reputation seemed to get darker and darker with each passing day. all the intelligence in the world couldn’t make up for the lies being spread about him. he wasn’t ‘army material’ or so most of them said. he belonged at a desk. snorting he fished out his key and opened his room. he started to gather up some things. one of his many laptops, his tool kit and a few other odd’s and ends he might want while bunking with cougar. when a shadow came a crossed the room he figured it was just rogue.  
“almost done”  
there was no reply so he just kept doing what he was, he grunted when he was slammed into his desk. his eyes jerking to look up at rogue, only to find it wasn’t rogue who had shoved him. gritting his teeth he said.  
“hey...how’s it going dude? miss me?”  
the man glared at him as he cracked his knuckles.  
“you think we wouldn’t get even with you you little shit.”  
he could see two others standing outside the door smirking in at them. swallowing he said.  
“guys this really isn’t the best time for this, im not even cleared from medical.”  
“your here aren’t you? good enough for me”  
swallowing jensen tried one last time to get them to back off.  
“look, someone’s waiting for me in the common’s. he’s gonna come looking and i really don’t think you want to tango with him alright...we can do this another time”  
the man glared at him. before shoving his arm over jensen’s throat as he pinned him against his desk. groaning jensen calmed himself as his breath was limited.  
“you think i give a shit what you want? there ain’t no one around here who wants anything to do with you. so im gonna kick your ass now and your going to like it yeah?”  
jensen grit his teeth.  
“sure...sounds great.”  
smirking the man raised his fist. closing his eyes jensen didn’t have the heart to watch as the fist came down on him.

*****************

“what’cha doin here man? thought you were a loser now?”  
snorting rogue nodded.  
“yeah im with them”  
the others snorted, he glared before commenting.  
“better than being stuck in here like all you sorry asses. haven’t managed to find somewhere better to be?”  
the others glared at him before letting it drop as rogue’s point was made. they had no right to criticize his team when they weren’t a part of something more than just the basic squads around the base.  
“so why are you here then?”  
he sighed before saying.  
“escorting a little shit to get his gear. he’s bunking with my teammate for a bit.”  
“oh? who?”  
“jensen”  
they all stilled a moment before one of them said.  
“seriously? that little shit, damn man im sorry. hopefully you wont have to spend too much time with him. he’s annoying as fuck man. never shuts up, know it all prissy bitch.”  
another nodded before saying.  
“little faggot doesn’t know what’s good for him, i swear if he weren’t so good with computers they would have kicked him out long ago. that’s the only thing keeping his scrawny ass here.”  
the others murmured among themselves a moment before rogue asked.  
“how long he been in your barracks?”  
“hm...a couple months, they had to move him from barrack three because of some altercation he was having, little shit made some reports about some other soldiers. couldn’t take a little ribbing and had them written up. no one likes being around the shit, he’s always over reacting to things. hell his last team was so glad to be rid of him, they didn’t even escort him to medical...he was unconscious at the time...talk about a waste of space man.”  
rogue nodded his head to the men who were all talking about the blonde he’d escorted here.  
“he cause any other trouble?”  
he needed to know what his team was getting involved in if they continued to let the blonde bunk with them instead of returning him to the hospital.  
“well, he broke conner’s hand a couple months ago. and he’s threatened a lot of people. word has it he’s a loose cannon man. he ain’t stable by any means. not all that surprising really, i mean come on, who enlists for this shit of pay just to keep his baby mama at bay... he just doesn’t want to take responsibility for knocking the broad up is all. that’s why he went gay man.”  
the others nodded their heads. rogue frowned at them a moment before saying.  
“he has a girl then? and a kid?”  
they nodded.  
“yeah, they ain’t married, hell he hardly goes to see them at all. deadbeat if i ever saw one. poor kid would be better off, same with the kids mom, cant be easy being reliant on that shit giving you his pay.”  
the others nodded their heads.   
“you don’t think he’s giving them enough support?”  
rogue asked gruffly, he’d beat the little shit himself if he was holding back on his own kid. the soldiers shrugged before saying.  
“all we know is what monroe said, he heard the kid on the phone a while ago saying something about not having anything else to send them...that night the little shit came walking in with a handful of bills.”  
scowling rogue glanced around before sighing.  
“how fucking long does it take you to get your damn gear”  
the other soldiers chuckled at him.  
“dude, he takes forever to get ready to go places...god your going to have to put up with his horrible clothing too...who is their right mind wheres a bright pink shirt with petunia’s on it?”  
rogue glared at him.  
“are you fucking kidding me?”  
they shook their heads. growling rogue went to take off to find the little shit he had promised to look after.  
“dude, good luck man...he’s room 54.”  
nodding he waved at them before heading towards the kids room. he was going to throttle the little bastard.  
coming down the hallway rogue glanced up and frowned at the sight of two men leaning against the wall. shrugging he looked around to see how far he had to go. he kept walking, getting closer to the two men, only to realize that they had to be leaning on the doorway to jensen’s room. scowling he was about to ask what the hell they were doing when he heard a crash. the two men were smirking as they glanced into the room. glaring he stalked up and barked out.  
“what are you doing!”  
both men jerked to attention before realizing that a ranking officer stood before them. they paled.  
“nothing sir”  
glaring at them he moved closer only to hear another crash. he still couldn’t see what was actually happening in the room he assumed to be jensen’s. the men’s bodies were blocking the number plague. the men jerked at the sound coming from within the room and looked nervously towards one another.  
“want to tell me what’s going on?”  
they glanced to him before shaking their heads. however, the sudden yelp from inside made him throw them aside. each of them crashing to the floor as he strode into the room. he paused just inside the doorway only to growl and lunge forward to rip the man punching jensen away from the blonde. he ignored jensen slumping to the floor to throw the man against the farthest wall and punch him right in the temple. the man’s head jerked back and he fell to the ground un-moving. glaring down at the unconscious man he turned away and walked calmly over to the slumped form of jensen. kneeling down he reached out to see how bad he was hurt only to still his movements when the man flinched back. his hand coming up to block what he thought was another attack.   
“its me jensen”  
the blonde looked up at him wearily, the already blackened eye swollen shut from the abuse it had just sustained on top of the previous bruising. his ‘good’ eye was only at half mast. he lowered his arm though as he seemed to take in that it was rogue and not his attacker.  
“hey...uh sorry i meant to be ready to go and-”  
“shut it”  
jensen clamped his mouth shut at the barked order. rogue glanced back when the man he’d struck groaned. without turning to face jensen he asked.  
“who is he?”  
“uh oh him? yeah that’s hillman...he’s kinda a dick.”  
snorting he turned his attention back around to the blonde to ask.  
“this happen before?”  
jensen swallowed nervously before saying.  
“uh i can just grab my gear man and we can hea-”  
“answer my damn question”  
clamping his mouth shut, he lowered his head and nodded.  
“you piss him off?”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“how?”  
jensen shrugged his shoulders. growling rogue barked out.  
“answer me damn it!”  
jerking his head back, jensen finally said.  
“he’s a dick, he doesn’t like me...he doesn’t need a reason to beat on me okay? he doesn’t give a crap about anyone but himself and thing one and thing two outside there.”  
he gestured towards the open door.  
“he’s got a shiny record cause his co likes to shove that at the other officers...he covers up all the shit he does, there’s no point in making a report and even when i do all i get is more shit so i don’t bother alright! so fuck off man, geez”  
he threw his hands up in the air before slumping once more against his desk. rogue raised a brow at the man’s tirade before snorting.  
“this about you being a deadbeat? the others seemed pretty riled by that, spitting in his face ain’t gonna help your case.”  
jensen froze a moment before looking up at rogue.his only half open eye glared at the man.  
“fuck you”  
rogue smirked at having touched on a touchy subject.  
“oh, did that sting corporal? this ain’t a kiddy party, you wanna walk away from your responsibilities fine, just don’t expect the rest of us to give a damn about you whining when someone show’s you how they feel about you walking out on your girl and kid.”  
jensen grit his teeth as he swung him self around to his knees. he grimaced, but forced himself to his feet. rogue rose to his full height as he watched the man stagger to his feet. the blonde glared up to him.  
“tell pooch and cougar thanks for me...i think im good here. so if you don’t mind, why don’t you drag his sorry ass to medical and leave me the fuck alone. can you handle that sir?”  
glaring at the kid’s snarky reply, he snorted and walked over to hoist up the groaning man. he walked to the doorway before tossing the man to his friends.  
“get him to medical would you?”  
they nodded and took off like a shot, not wanting to hang around the already temperamental man. turning around he growled when the door slammed in his face. reaching out he looked down when the door knob wouldn’t turn. the door was locked. looking back to the center of the door he called out.  
“open this damn door jensen”  
“fuck you”  
“im ordering you to open this door corporal”  
all was silent a moment. just as he was about to shout at the man again, the door jerked open and the blonde stood there glaring at him.  
“something you need sir?”  
“don’t back talk me kid, i’ll wipe the floor with you”  
jensen jerked his hand behind him.  
“already happened today, might want to try something else.”  
rogue glanced back, there were smears of blood on the floor from the man’s bloody nose no doubt. the kid was still a mess, a busted lip and blood still oozing from his nostril.  
“you need medical?”  
jensen huffed at him before turning and starting the arduous task of cleaning his room. rogue leaned against the doorway as the kid made jerky movements. throwing papers and other shit away that had been broken in the skirmish. it was nearly ten minutes later that the blonde turned and asked.  
“what the fuck do you want!”  
raising a brow rogue smirked and said.  
“it bother you to be watched?”  
“bothers me when a dickhead does it yeah”  
glaring at the kid he straightened himself out and warned him.  
“watch it kid-”  
“or what? you gonna write me up? you gonna mop the floor with me like he did? gonna give me latrine duty? please enlighten me why i should give a flying fuck what you think about me, and yeah your a dickhead...everyone in this shit hole is.”  
he turned back around only to curse and throw another stack of stuff into the already overflowing basket. he kicked it aside, the contents spewing forth to slide just shy of rogue’s feet. rogue glanced down at it. he tilted his head before kneeling down to pick up a heavier object in between some things. it was a picture frame. the glass was broken and the frame a little dented from all the fighting, but the picture wasn’t damaged. rogue frowned at the picture of a young blond girl sitting on top of jensen’s shoulders smiling brightly as another older woman had her arms wrapped around jensen. his own arm around her in return. the picture couldn’t be more than a year old. frowning he glanced up to the man who was milling about and tossing other things towards the doorway, not caring if he struck rogue with the debris or not. he ignored the angry gestures of the man, and the debris half haphazardly tossed his way. instead opting to ask.  
“you want to throw this out?”  
jensen grit his teeth before twisting about an angry retort dying on his lips as he saw the picture. rogue raised a brow at the man’s reaction, before offering it over to the man. jensen stumbled forward and yanked it out of the larger man’s hands. he looked at it a moment before hobbling to his side table. he righted it, ignoring the broken lamp to set the damaged picture frame on it. rogue was surprised when the man ordered him in a tired voice.  
“get out”  
“i outrank you corporal, if i want to watch you take a piss i can.”  
jensen tensed before he muttered.  
“fine, whatever”  
he rummaged through some things on his desk, trying his best to ignore the man behind him. rogue waited a moment before asking.  
“what’s their names?”  
he watched the blonde tense again before the blonde sent him a glare and said.  
“i ain’t telling you shit about them, so go ahead and piss off.”  
before turning back to his task. smirking rogue asked.  
“sore subject you leaving them?”  
he saw the kid ball up his fists, but the kid relaxed them a moment later and continued working. tilting his head at the man, rogue wondered how long the kid could keep the act up before he really exploded.  
“gotta say its a pretty low move to leave them hanging like that. you couldn’t hack it as a dad so you figured army’s an easy way out right? wont be around much to have to deal with the kid, your girl will raise her and what you gotta send half your check, not a bad deal all things considered.”  
jensen slumped against his desk. his arms bracing his weight. this guy was like a dog with a bone. none of the shit he was saying was the truth of course, but it still hurt to think that other people thought he was some lowlife who abandoned his kid. sighing jensen gave up.  
“yeah its a great deal, wouldn’t have it any other way.”  
rogue scowled at the back of the kids head. nodding his head he kicked off of the doorway.  
“yeah figures...you ain’t the army type kid, might as well pack it in. clay already looked you over, your record’s shoddy at best and that’s being nice. wont be long before your out of people willing to work with you. better get used to the idea of having to face the music and deal with your responsibilities back home. that’s if your girl will take you back, hope she’s smart enough not too.”  
rogue walked away, not bothering to listen for any kind of reply. as soon as he was sure that the man was gone. jensen slumped to the floor. he glanced to the broken frame on his side table before crawling over to it to hold it. he didn’t know what he’d do if he was kicked out of the army...sarah and beth were counting on him. leaning against his bed he sighed.  
“same shit...different day...and its only tuesday.”  
he muttered.

*******************

rogue bustled into the loser’s house and stilled when he saw cougar and pooch sitting on the couch watching t.v. both men looked at him before looking behind him, obviously expecting jensen. snorting he said.  
“kid stayed at the barracks.”  
he made to head to his room, only to have pooch bolt up and get in his way.   
“what did you do?”  
he glared. rogue snorted before saying.  
“i saved the little ass, some of his barrack buddies were teaching him a lesson, i sent them on their way and after we had a little talk he told me to go fuck myself and that he’d stay at the barracks.”  
pooch frowned before glancing to cougar who had gotten up on his crutches.  
“jensen would not act that way”  
the quiet man said. snorting rogue fired back.  
“right, cause you know him so well. he’s the boy who cried wolf, he pisses everybody off, and when they harass him a bit he goes running to report everyone.”  
“what is your definition of harass rogue?”  
pooch questioned the man. snorting the larger man said.  
“they don’t like him, fine. he’s a show off and rubs it in their faces, gets people written up for normal barrack shit. he cant hack it pooch. best he just go home and grow up. if the army couldn’t make him into a man i pity his girl and kid.”  
he went to stalk past the man, but pooch grabbed his arm and yanked him back a scowl on his face.  
“what girl? what are you talking about?”  
snorting rogue gestured to them.  
“see you don’t even know anything about him...he ran off to join the army so he wouldn’t have to deal with the girl he knocked up, he didn’t want to raise the kid so he figured half his paycheck and traveling the world would be better than manning up.”  
both pooch and cougar stared at him like he was insane. huffing he said.  
“what the hell’s wrong with you two now?”  
“tu loco, nunca haria algo asi. esa era su hermana y sobrina, idiota. que hiciste?( your insane, he would never do something like that. that was his sister and niece you moron. what did you do?)”  
both pooch and rogue stared at the shouting sniper. cougar never raised his voice to them or anyone else for that matter. pooch although he didn’t know what all cougar had said nodded in agreement to the man’s statement. it was the sudden deep voice of clay coming from behind them that explained some things.  
“rogue, that was his sister and niece. he doesn’t have a girlfriend or a child. chances are he’s sending them his paycheck and the idiots in the barracks got the wrong idea. he was recruited straight out of high school due to his stunt with the defense grid.”  
the knife happy man blinked before scowling.  
“he didn’t-”  
rolling his eyes as he stepped forward, clay interjected his sic.  
“your an intimidating man, he was nervous around you before...if his treatment in the barracks is along the lines of what you broke up to begin with. he’s not going to be too eager to fight back, especially not against someone like you. far too easy to just knuckle under and avoid any ramifications.”  
“the little shit cursed me halfway through-”  
“and you deserved it”  
pooch stated bitterly. rogue glared at the transport specialist, but clay once again interjected himself between the arguing parties.  
“he doesn’t know us or you rogue, why try to correct you when you were so eager to believe barrack gossip? did you ask him about it? of course not, i know you, you told him how it was and after he got pissed off of you cramming bullshit down his throat he told you to piss off.”  
rogue glared at clay, one because he hated listening to a lecture from the man and two because he was beginning to wonder if his team was right. he didn’t like making a fool of himself, and he really hated the idea of having to apologize to the little shit for what all he’d said. they all turned suddenly when cougar called out to pooch.  
“drive me there”  
pooch didn’t argue, instead he raced forward snatched up his keys and opened the door for cougar. when the two disappeared and the door shut behind them, rogue turned back figuring he was in for one hell of a lecture. he blinked when clay was no longer in sight.   
“fuck”  
he muttered... if he wasn’t even getting lectured, he was in deep shit.

****************

their drive to barrack ten was tense, pooch could hear cougar muttering in spanish under his breath.  
“chill cougar, we’ll figure this out...rogue’s an ass, always has been always will be, but we’ll get this sorted alright?”  
nodding his head the man mumbled in english for his friend.  
“we shouldn’t have sent him with rogue”  
pooch nodded.  
“i know, my bad man, i should have just told him to wait until later”  
the sniper shook his head.  
“not what i meant, i do not blame you”  
nodding his head pooch replied.  
“i know, but i cant help but feel guilty...this shit wouldn’t have happened if we had taken him and not rogue.”  
there was a unsettled silence that filled the interior of the vehicle. finally they pulled up and after slamming the car into park, with way more force than necessary, pooch helped cougar to the door and they both walked into barrack ten.  
it was noisy, they both winced at the cacophony of sound vibrating around the place. cougar muttered under his breath.  
“ruidoso(loud)”  
pooch nodded his head, figuring he knew what the man was complaining about. the milling soldiers offered up a glance to them before returning to their own activities. sighing, pooch and cougar made their way over to a group of soldiers.  
“hey you know what room jensen’s in?”  
the group looked at them a moment before one of the taller ones asked.  
“why do you want him?”  
sighing pooch said.  
“we just do, now do you know the number or not?”  
the man snorted before saying   
“ 54”  
nodding he motioned for cougar to follow him and started off towards the dormitory. the soldiers muttered behind them, but they ignored them. walking down the hallway they only came a crossed a few people walking back or forth to their own rooms. no one stopped them as they traversed the barracks that they didn’t belong too. snorting pooch said.  
“wish we could infiltrate every place like this...moron’s not even asking why were here.”  
“si”  
smirking he glanced to his friend as he swung himself forward with the crutches. they made their way and soon enough they found room 54. sighing pooch muttered.  
“here we go”  
he knocked on the door. they stood there a moment, nothing happened. no noise from inside. sighing pooch raised his hand again and knocked once more. they looked back and forth between each other and the solid door. still nothing.  
“is he not here?”  
cougar asked pooch shrugged his shoulders.  
“i mean i guess he could have taken off after the shit storm with rogue...he didn’t say how bad off jensen was after the fight he broke up...maybe he went to medical?”  
cougar shook his head.  
“he would not go willingly”  
pooch smirked at the sniper before turning his attention back towards the door. he tried the handle only to find it locked. sighing he muttered.  
“alright, well...if this comes up, this never happened”  
raising a brow, cougar smirked when pooch knelt down and fished out a couple lock picks. the man tinkered a bit before he smirked at a small click being heard.  
“bingo”  
he stood up and pocketed his tools before turning the door nob and letting themselves in. it was dark inside the man’s room, but even with only the small amount of light coming in from behind them they could see the form laying on the bed. they both sighed, they entered quietly, before shutting the door. jensen was sprawled out on his back, an arm covering an ice pack that was over his eyes. glancing to cougar he whispered.  
“what now?”  
cougar shook his head, pooch sighed as he glanced around the room. the place was a mess, but he could tell that wasn’t because of jensen, there was blood still on the floor and on jensen’s desk. there was a pile of debris by the doorway and other stuff strewn about. jensen obviously hadn’t had the energy to try and straighten stuff up after rogue’s interrogation and the fight he’d endured.  
“well this isn’t creepy or nothing”  
pooch muttered, referring to them breaking into the man’s room while he was sleeping and watching him. cougar snorted at him before making his way over to the man. pooch called out to him.  
“dude i wouldn’t-”  
cougar ignored him, pushing his crutches out and forcing pooch to catch them, as he sat down on the edge of jensen’s bed. the blonde jerked in response, his hand going out as he scrambled back, the ice pack falling to his chest, revealing the bruising on his swollen face. his one good eye opened wide before he slumped in obvious relief as to who had invaded his personal space.  
“jesus christ cougar...what the fuck man”  
he braced his chest as he panted. cougar smirked  
“ever heard of knocking dude?”  
he questioned, pooch snorted before saying.  
“we did, you didn’t answer”  
jensen looked over to him before saying.  
“oh hiya pooch”  
the man shook his head at the blonde. suddenly remembering what he had just been told, the blonde said.  
“really? huh, didn’t hear a thing...so uh..hey i locked that”  
he pointed towards his door, pooch looked a little embarrassed as he said.  
“and i picked it”  
jensen looked at him a moment, but instead of getting mad like he assumed the man would, the blonde snorted.  
“figures...alright, so why are you in my lovely abode?”  
shaking his head pooch said.  
“we just wanted to come make sure your alright...rogue is-”  
‘”a dickhead, yeah i got the memo on that one thanks”  
he said a little sharper than he intended. he ducked his head before muttering.  
“sorry”  
pooch shook his head.  
“its fine, look, he told us what went on...we ripped him a new one...so did clay. he was going off of some gossip instead of actually asking you about shit, he didn’t have a right to say anything to you about it. its none of his or our business, we just wanted to make sure you were okay.”  
jensen nodded his head, he cracked a smile before saying.  
“im fine, don’t worry about me...im used to dickheads their a dime a dozen around here.”  
both men frowned at him, not impressed by his fake smile. jensen blinked at them before saying.  
“seriously dudes, im okay...nothing to worry about, no problem what so ever. im peachy keen, right as rain, fit as a-”  
“mi amigo, no nos mientas (my friend do not lie to us)”  
jensen looked at him a moment before muttering.  
“need to get that damn dictionary.”  
pooch smirked before saying.  
“he doesn’t want you lieing to us”  
jensen’s good eye widened before he said.  
“dude im-”  
they both glared at him, sighing he slumped against his wall.  
“fine...this whole things blows, is that what you want to hear?”  
“si”  
he looked at cougar incredulously, the sniper smirked. shaking his head jensen said.  
“look there’s nothing you can do about it alright, i appreciate the concern, but don’t worry about me. i can take care of myself alright?”  
“your eye is swollen shut and half of your face is black and blue”  
pooch uttered factually. jensen scowled at him  
“smart ass, i ain’t dead alright, i’ll live. they get bored when i don’t react alright, their just bullies like at school. i can handle it. i ain’t gonna drop out.”  
pooch shook his head at the blonde.  
“no one was saying you should drop out”  
“rogue did”  
“rogue’s a dickhead remember”  
jensen smirked when pooch used his term for the man. he sighed before explaining.  
“look, nothings going to change alright, i’ll heal up and be outta their way. go do my job come back rinse and repeat. no big deal.”  
cougar shook his head at the blonde before saying.  
“no durara mucho tiempo siendo tratado de esa manera( you will not last long being treated that way.)”  
jensen blinked at the spanish speaking man. shaking his head he looked to pooch and asked.  
“translation please?”  
pooch smirked, but cougar finally said.  
“you wont last long like that”  
jensen huffed.  
“i’ve made it this far, i can hack it. and i don’t just mean my skills as a hacker. i can take whatever they dish out, im not going to wash out because some jackass has a problem with being an underachieving douchebag.”  
the two men smirked at him, cougar reached out and gently touched the man’s bleeding lip, the man’s vigorous talking having split it open again. he showed his blood finger.  
“you bleed the same as them, but they do not see the strength in it. only that they have won.”  
sighing jensen shrugged his shoulders, wincing at the action before sighing again.  
“i don’t know what to tell you man.”  
“come back with us”  
jensen looked startled at the sniper.  
“i-i cant man, i don’t belong there and me and rogue are like oil and water dude. besides it wont change anything...its better if i just stick this out here. they’ll only be egged on by me seeking shelter from you guys...they’re like cavemen that way.”  
pooch snorted before telling the hacker.  
“look, we can bunk you for a while alright? rogue will keep his ass in line, its going to be a couple weeks before cougar gets his cast off, so were grounded till then. by then you should be back up to snuff and if you get called out on a mission so be it, if not you can stay with us until you do.”  
jensen shook his head.  
“pooch man, i appreciate it, i do, but it-it-”  
they all jerked when the door slammed open suddenly. jensen froze at the sight of rogue. pooch and cougar glared at their teammate. the man sneered at them before looking to the stunned jensen and barked out.  
“get your shit together, were leaving”  
jensen blinked before looking to pooch and cougar, the two men weren’t looking at him though, they were still focused on their teammate. rogue glared at them before barking out to jensen again.  
“now jensen, ten minutes...get your shit and lets go...i ain’t putting up with clay or these two bastards because of this shit...so move your ass.”  
the man stalked off down the hallway before anyone could say anything. jensen coughed before saying.  
“umm...okay”  
smirking pooch turned to look at the befuddled blonde before saying.  
“told you he’d get his ass in line. come on, he isn’t the most patient man in the world, let me help.”  
jensen looked at them both like they were crazy.  
“dude, we aren’t-”  
“he will come back...with knives”  
cougar muttered quietly to the blonde. jensen nodded.  
“alright..uh cool...sure...don’t need that.”  
the man scrambled out of his bed and started putting shit into a bag. pooch glanced to cougar and smirked. the man winked at him. they both knew that rogue wasn’t going to come back with weapons, he’d yell, but after his last stunt with the blonde. he wasn’t going to push his luck, especially not with witness’s. pooch snorted before helping the nervous hacker get all of his shit together.  
“alright...uh yeah that’s, that’s it.”  
nodding pooch hoisted the pack over his shoulder and grunted.  
“jesus kid, whats in here”  
jensen smirked and said.  
“just the necessities.”  
pooch rolled his eyes, it was cougar who pointed to the frame on the side table. jensen glance over before making an ‘aha’ noise and scooping it up.  
“thanks”  
cougar nodded as he watched jensen shove the item into a smaller backpack that he tossed over his own shoulder.  
“okay, now im set.”  
pooch shook his head, the trio were just exiting the room when rogue reappeared. jensen froze and took a step back at the sight of the man. pooch and cougar didn’t let him know they had caught the action, instead pooch swung the pack over to rogue who grunted at the weight of it.  
“there you go, be useful”  
pooch walked past the man carrying a smaller, lighter case for jensen. the blonde edged his way around the large black man before hobbling after pooch. cougar grinned at rogue before saying quite clearly.  
“te lo mereces (you deserve it)”  
he made his way around the man who growled and said.  
“what did you say to me?”  
cougar smirked over his shoulder before continuing down the hallway. gritting his teeth, rogue followed his teammates back to the waiting jeep. he’d been forced to walk the whole way to the barrack’s after getting some unpleasant treatment by clay. making their way out to the jeep, pooch and rogue loaded up the kids gear, before each taking their place in the front of the vehicle. cougar and jensen shared the back. as they made the drive back towards the loser’s house, jensen muttered.  
“weirdest fucking day ever”  
no one replied, so he figured no one had heard him, but cougar smirked as he looked out his window.

*******************

cougar pulled jensen along as they entered the house, pooch and rogue were getting the man’s gear. the blonde just continued to shake his head.  
“corporal”  
his head jerked up at the sight of clay leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.  
“sir”  
smirking clay asked.  
“you get everything you needed from the barracks?”  
nodding his head jensen replied.  
“yeah, i mean yes sir”  
smirking clay replied.  
“clay is fine”  
“oh...okay sure, yeah that works too.”  
turning away clay re-entered the kitchen, leaving it to his team to see to the man’s return. cougar smirked before motioning for jensen to follow him back to ‘their’ room. the blonde did so robotically. they had just settled on their beds, when pooch and rogue stumbled in and set the kids stuff down. rogue grumbling under his breath about ‘useless crap’. jensen smirked a little before thanking them. rogue left without a word, sighing jensen looked to pooch and said.  
“your nuts to think this is going to work.”  
the man smiled at him before telling him.  
“piece of advice, he starts yelling, just keep on at him. he’ll piss himself off and storm out. your smart dude, use it. well im going to go see to rustling up some grub for us all. any requests?”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“tandori chicken?”  
pooch smirked before saying.  
“good memory kid and not on your life...we don’t need to give you food poisoning on top of whatever else is wrong with you...i ain’t that good of a cook.”  
jensen laughed before saying.  
“im good with whatever”  
pooch nodded before regarding cougar in a similar fashion, the sniper shrugged. shaking his head he muttered about unhelpful people as he made his way down the hallway. smirking jensen reached for his first bag, hoisting it up onto the bed with him. it was heavy and it pulled on his wounds, but it was well worth the pain as he dug out his laptop.  
“come to papa my little friend.”  
cougar raised a brow to the blonde before asking.  
“how will you work, you barely can see things?”  
jensen snorted before off handily saying.  
“i don’t have to see the screen to know what im doing man, im a pro.”  
cougar frowned, but after a few moments of setting up what he wanted, cougar watched as jensen started typing frantically, a moment after he started he turned to look at him.  
“see”  
he wasn’t looking at the screen at all as he continued to type. cougar’s eyes widened at that.  
“how?”  
“how do you shoot someone from how ever many meter’s away? you just can right? same here. you have your tricks, i have mine.”  
the sniper smirked at him and nodded before reclining on his own bed and pulling down his hat over his eyes.  
“will my typing bother you?”  
“no”  
“okay, cool, cause i got some stuff to catch up on...stupid stuff, but stuff none the less...who came up with the word stuff? i should google that sometime, it might be interesting right? maybe some guy was named stuff. hahaha that’d be a horrible name.”  
cougar smiled as he listened to the blonde ramble on, he was glad that things were back to normal. the withdrawn man from earlier wasn’t who he had come to know in jensen, he much preferred the loud, energetic man with a million questions.  
it was a while later before pooch called down the hallway to come and get it. cougar sat up, straightening his hat on his head once more before glancing over to the still furiously typing blonde.  
“jensen food”  
the blonde nodded his head as if he heard him. though his fingers didn’t pause in their fast keystrokes. shaking his head, he got his crutches under his arms before leveraging himself out of his bed to make his way a crossed to jensen.   
“amigo food”  
jensen glanced up  
“huh?”  
smirking cougar said again.  
“food”  
“oh, oh okay...sure, yeah food would be good. just let me finish thi-and done.”  
he snapped the lid closed on his laptop before beaming up to the sniper and sliding off of his bed. cougar shook his head before heading out of their room to the kitchen. jensen was a little stiff upon seeing rogue already seated beside clay, but after being situated between cougar and pooch settled down. once the food was dished out did the small talk begin, pooch asking.  
“so you hear back about that paperwork?”  
clay grunted before commenting.  
“brass are riding our asses already...apparently me mentioning that our sniper’s down isn’t a good enough excuse for them.”  
the others snorted at that, jensen glanced around at them all before going back to eating.  
“yeah, lets see them pull of some of the shots cougar does”  
clay grinned at pooch before saying.  
“don’t worry, i already told them where they could stick their orders. were on base until he’s ready to deploy.”  
“gracias”  
clay nodded to the sniper before reaching for another roll. he tore off a piece before asking jensen.  
“you settle in?”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah...well i haven’t unpacked or anything...been busy working on my laptop.”  
clay raised a brow at that.  
“what work? your on medical leave until your healed up. on top of that how can you even see what your doing?”  
jensen smirked at him before saying.  
“my work is a little more flexible than cougars...i can do it from bed. i don’t mind though, i hate being without something to do. and as i’ve already told my spanishy friend here, i have ways of dealing with my computer without the use of my eyes.”  
clay continued to frown a moment before he questioned.  
“what are you working on then?”  
jensen swallowed his bite of food before saying nonchalantly.  
“oh im hacking a foreign firewall so another team can crack their security easier when their on site. something about drug money or whatever....don’t really care much, im just making it so all the camera feed’s loop so no one knows they’re there. its easy stuff really.”  
they stared at him as he continued to eat like he hadn’t just said that his ‘desk’ work was securing the safety of another team while they were abroad. jensen looked up and jerked a little.  
“uh...hi? did i say something?”  
it was rogue’s strict voice that barked out.  
“your changing the camera’s to not show their there?”  
he glanced at the perpetually angry man and nodded.  
“yeah, its a feedback loop. if someone looks at the camera’s all they’ll see is empty hallways, not the special op’s team breaking down their doors.”  
rogue looked to clay after jensen had finished and said.  
“okay i fold”  
clay smirked at him before waving off jensen’s concerned look.  
“its fine, do you need anything to help you with your work?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“no, im all set. i have the system rigged up so all the guys have to do is enter a code and my program will take care of the rest. i don’t have to physically be watching over them or the program, it’ll do everything for them. i was just double checking the hard lines to make sure nothing had changed in the security system they were going to cross. they’re all set so i can move onto another job now.”  
the man munched away as he rambled on about what all he had done for the team. it was pooch who asked him.  
“so, im confused...are you a part of that team?”  
jensen snorted and shook his head.  
“no, im not there”  
“but your making sure no one see’s them”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, but that’s not really a big deal pooch. they’d be going in with or without me.”  
clay snorted before saying.  
“but with you, they wont be fighting off nearly as many armed soldiers now will they?”  
jensen blinked at him before saying.  
“well no, they probably wont have much of anything to do beside whatever they were sent there for...why do you ask?”  
pooch rolled his eyes before saying.  
“dude, your records? clay pulled em man-you should have commendations cause of that shit”  
jensen snorted at him.  
“why?”  
they all just stared at him a moment before rogue hit his hand on the table before shouting.  
“what kind of dumb ass question is that? why? because your saving their ass’s from being shot at.”  
jensen leaned away from the man before nodding his head.  
“okay okay, yeah i guess...but its not a big deal alright? i’d do that anyways whether i was on site with them or not. i don’t want anyone getting hurt if i can prevent it and hacking a security feed is a walk in the park most of the time...those russians-now they’re getting sneaky, but i can still do it so-okay what now?”  
he said as he stared at the smirking faces around him. clay shook his head before turning to his sic and saying.  
“your choice, pay up or sign”  
rolling his eyes rogue said.  
“fine fine, i’ll sign, are you happy now? but if this doesn’t work i’m rubbing it in your face.”  
“you’d do that regardless of our bet”  
rogue smirked at clay, the man knew him so well. the others were staring at them weirdly, but clay shook his head.  
“its nothing. just a small wager we placed. so jensen how many task’s do you have right now?”  
“huh? oh for other teams? uh...lets see...africa, hondurous...china? no not china, i finished that one....uh...egypt...iraq....yeah think that’s it...just the five of em.”  
“five?! how do they expect you to do all of that”  
pooch yelled. jensen rolled his eyes.  
“chill dude, i’ve done more at one time...besides africa’s nearly done, just a few more codes to enter and wallah the magic doors open. after that its really egypt that’s giving me any difficulty. they keep changing their security protocols which is a big indication of them doing a big no no. either way they’re going to get invaded, but you’d think smugglers would be smarter than to advertise ‘doing evil here’ so well online.”  
they smirked at him as he rambled about his task. they finished dinner together, with only a few glares being sent by rogue as they wrapped things up. surprisingly rogue did the dishes as the rest of them made their way back to their previous activities. jensen commenting.  
“he doesn’t seem like the wash dishes type.”  
pooch snorted before explaining their agreement.  
“you cook, you don’t do dishes, you do dishes you don’t have to cook.”  
“okay makes sense...everybody cooks?”  
pooch and cougar shook their heads.  
“we cant let clay around a toaster man...no its just the three of us, but cougars out of rotation cause of his ankle.”  
the blonde nodded before eagerly saying.  
“i can cook”  
pooch smirked before saying.  
“your out of rotation too”  
the blonde pouted before saying.  
“but im not on crutches”  
pooch shook his head as he headed past them to his own room that he shared with rogue.  
“sorry man, speak to the boss, but i already know he’ll say nada to that.”  
huffing jensen followed cougar into their room and crashed onto his bed with a groan.  
“idiota.”  
he grinned.  
“i know man, im awesome...don’t have to keep telling me.”  
cougar snorted at him as he rolled over and scooped up his laptop, not a minute later cougar watched as the man started frantically typing away. shaking his head he pulled his hat down low on his face and listened to the tell tale tapping of keys. he smirked upon hearing jensen say.  
“that’s right...take it bitch, not gonna get past me...uh huh...how’d you like that....oh yeah they gonna raid you so hard.”


	4. time for a check-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> settling in with the losers and getting to know them a bit better, jensen is still trying his best to fit in with the group. as time goes by its also time for cougar and jensen to go in for a check-up to be given eta's of returning to active duty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> number four out of...i have no idea. the whole story is about 85,000 words. i know i know really long, but thats just how i roll lol. enjoy.

it was a while later when cougar woke from his light doze. he could still hear the tapping of key’s, but they were docile and not near as frantic as they had been when he had dozed off. raising his hat he glanced over to see jensen working with his tongue sticking out between his bruised lips. shaking his head he glanced to the alarm clock to see that it had been over two hours.  
“you are still working?”  
jensen’s head jerked up from where he was focused on the screen to glance over to him.  
“oh hey, i wasn’t sure if you were asleep or not so i tried to quiet down for you...hope it worked cause this is about as quiet as i can get and its pushing things if you know what i mean”  
smirking cougar asked again.  
“still working?”  
jensen seemed to realize that he had gone off on a tangent because he blushed a little before shaking his head.   
“no no, finished all of that. everything is set up so i decided to try and well-do you think pooch would be mad that i looked up his file?”  
cougar blinked at him before frowning at the hacker.  
“his file?”  
nodding jensen elaborated.  
“he’s in there with rogue and i really didn’t want to intrude, but i figured i could do something to help him out and i needed some info about him so i just hacked in and got his file.”  
shaking his head cougar asked.  
“what did you need?”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“jolene’s info he put down on his medical stuff in case something happens to him...i might be re-routing a server connection and making a sustainable camera feed for him...do you think he’ll mind?”  
unsure what the man had just said cougar dared to ask.  
“what is that?”  
smirking, jensen got up from his bed and strode over to cougars bed. cougar moved his legs to allow the hacker to sit down, jensen sat after saying thanks and showed him the laptop screen, it was filled with mostly gibberish, but there were a few phrases he could catch mostly, pooch’s real name along with jolene’s. he frowned at jensen. the hacker sighed before explaining.  
“okay it goes like this...the base were in is encrypted right for security. well that makes it hard to just call up our loved ones and say howdy, after i heard pooch talking about only getting to talk to jo maybe once a week i figured i could put in a safety protocol that would let him at the very least see her...if he can give me a little more info i might even be able to give him a webcam feed to her and they could talk...like on the phone only you know in person.”  
cougar looked at the man and smiled.  
“he will not mind if he gets to talk to her, that i can assure you”  
jensen beamed at that before adding.  
“he’ll need to get her a webcam that i can hack into and add onto this, once that’s set up, he can just dial her in and talk away. for right now he can at least see her when she goes to and from her work, not much, but better than nothing...there’s really no good angles on her apartment so i left those alone. i might even be able to hack into the camera’s around her work and alter their angle, or well falsify orders to change their angles so he could see her in her office.”  
cougar chuckled at the man as he babbled.  
“come, we should tell pooch”  
jensen rose and leaned down to hand cougar his crutches. the man said gracias before hoisting himself up.   
“you sure, i mean if rogue’s sleeping-”  
he shook his head and ignored the man’s worries as he headed off down the hallway. he didn’t bother knocking, instead barging in. both rogue and pooch glanced up from their beds where they were doing different things. rogue was sharpening one of his many blades while pooch was reading something.  
“jensen has something to show you”  
pooch nodded as the tech waited at the door for permission. rogue rolled his eyes at the kid, but didn’t say anything as he went back to sharpening his knife.  
“come on in man”  
jensen nodded and walked over to pooch’s side of the room nervously. rogue had one big ass knife in his hands, not something he wanted to be any closer too. he sat down on the edge of the pooch’s bed and showed him the laptop screen. just like cougar the man shook his head. sighing he explained.  
“okay, so i heard you talking about not getting to talk with jo all that much right?”  
the man nodded his head to the hacker.  
“well i have a fix for that, i hacked into some camera’s and made a feed for you, you can see her at her work, when she shows up and leaves...im working on moving the camera’s so you could see her in her office if you want, but then i got the idea that with a little something extra i could just tie her into this program...if you can get her a webcam i can hack into it and you two can talk...just like on the phone only a video call. you’d see each other.”  
pooch looked at him stunned.  
“seriously”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“yeah, its not that big of a deal. i can tell her how to setup everything and in an hour or two you could be talking to each other. you wouldn’t have to wait for the phone lines at the main building anymore. you could talk to each other whenever you wanted...if you got your own laptop i could hook it up and you could take it with you where ever you went. so long as your connected to the internet you’d have access to her. don’t worry i’d firewall the hell out of that baby, no one would be able to figure out who you or she was or where your located if you lost it or it got left behind. so what do you think?”  
jensen grunted when he was suddenly hugged, he looked over to cougar who was seated on rogue’s bed and saw the man smirk as he held a thumbs up to the sniper.  
“i think he likes it”  
even rogue snorted at that. finally pooch pulled back and asked.  
“how did you do this?”  
“well im a hacker dude, i hacked things...i had to look up your file to get some of her info to track down her work place, but other than that it was real easy.”  
pooch shook his head.  
“your a genius man”  
smirking jensen and pooch both turned when rogue asked sharply.  
“you hacked his records?”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, he has her listed on his medical files-”  
rogue glared at him before stating.  
“you didn’t bother to come ask if he wanted you to do that?”  
pooch could see where this was going and called out.  
“dude, i can talk to jo, i don’t care if he knows my social and favorite ice cream flavor...this is awesome.”  
rogue sneered at them before telling the man.  
“hack my records and i’ll gut you”  
he held up his very large knife. jensen nodded his head.  
“gotcha, no problemo man, wont touch em.”  
pooch shook his head at his teammate before getting jensen’s attention.  
“any webcam?”  
nodding jensen said.  
“yeah, i mean make sure its got good focus otherwise you’ll be a blob to her, but otherwise your all set. just let me know when she’s ready to hook things up and i’ll fix everything up for you.”  
pooch smiled at him.  
“your amazing...seriously a life saver, she’s going to be ecstatic about this.”  
jensen smiled at him.  
“no problem man and like i said, where you go she can go. no worries about being cut off cause your in the ass crack of the world.”  
pooch laughed at jensen’s terminology before saying.  
“i might not mention where im taking her along too if that’s where we go.”  
jensen laughed and nodded.  
“might be a good move on your part.”  
he twisted around when he heard rogue bark out.  
“seriously, i got it off that smuggler, dumb ass was wrestling me. me can you believe it. pummeled his ass and took his knife.”  
jensen saw cougar twisting a knife around analyzing it. it was pretty large, but then again, all of the knives he’d seen the man have were large. tilting his head he had to ask.  
“do you own a regular sized knife?”  
rogue looked to him and snorted. the other two men smirked and cougar soon answered the man.  
“no he does not”  
rogue turned his glare on the sniper as he sharpened another blade.  
“don’t see you complaining when it gets the job done, better than that pig sticker you got in your boot”  
“pig sticker?”  
they glanced to jensen who was smirking. cougar rolled his eyes before reaching down into his only boot and pulled out a decent sized blade. jensen nodded before saying.  
“if that’s a pig sticker i’d hate to know what you call the regulation knives.”  
rogue rolled his eyes at the blonde as cougar put his knife back into his boot.  
“why do you have it anyways? i mean your a sniper right? your a long ways away from the shit going down.”  
cougar shook his head.  
“it comes in handy amigo”  
“i guess”  
rogue finally turned to him and asked.  
“do you even carry weapons? i doubt a laptop could be very threatening to a drug lord or smuggler.”  
jensen snorted at him before commenting proudly.  
“for your information, i once beat a man unconscious with his own laptop after i ripped the secret information off of it.”  
cougar and pooch chuckled while rogue looked bewildered.  
“you beat him with his own laptop?”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, he deserved it too. totally not feeling guilty about that one.”  
rogue scoffed at the man before questioning.  
“why the hell would you feel guilty for fighting back? if someone’s trying to kill you, you kill them first.”  
jensen rolled his eyes before saying.  
“if that held true half of my high school would be dead, my barrack would be nearly empty...not always the best solution dude.”  
rogue glared at him, but pooch interceded.  
“high school was rough for you?”  
jensen snorted at him.  
“who has it easy my man? the jocks? yeah totally wasn’t one of those...though i might have altered a few of their test scores.”  
pooch smirked at him.  
“you evil little man”  
jensen smirked at the transportation specialist.  
“hey, you slam me into a locker, you ain’t getting no scholarship to play ball.”  
pooch laughed at that, cougar smirked and even rogue had a glint in his eye at the man’s plot against his bullies. after they settled down pooch dared to ask.  
“uh jensen?”  
nodding his head he waited for the man to ask whatever he wanted.  
“do you talk to your sister and niece like this?”  
he motioned to the computer. jensen shook his head.  
“nah, sarah’s not really big into computers, i mean she knows how to work one and all that, but she doesn’t like knowing how easy it is for people to hack em...after living with me, she is properly afraid of the possibilities. besides, if beth knew she could talk to me whenever she wanted, i’d never get anything done...she’d be calling to ask me all sorts of questions, are you egypt again, where’s morocco, whats the largest bug that you’ve been stung by? did it hurt? yeah not on my priority list, i can wait till leave to see em.”  
pooch smirked at him.  
“curious thing huh?”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“oh yeah, doesn’t help that i egg her on though...sarah has threatened much bodily harm to me if i introduce beth to hacking...so im behaving myself...for the most part.”  
pooch raised a brow at that. jensen smirked at him, but it was surprisingly rogue who asked.  
“what’d you do?”  
glancing to the large man he said.  
“i may or may not have made sure that she got to go on a special field trip to the natural history museum...out of all of her class she’s the only one who’s going to remember or even care about it. so i made some adjustments...sarah looked the other way when she got the last minute notice that beth could go so i figure im in the clear.”  
cougar chuckled at his friend.  
“sneaky my amigo”  
nodding his head jensen said.  
“worth it though, she talked about that for weeks. the only downside was she knew i’d gone to a few of the countries where things were from and started asking why i couldn’t bring her stuff...explaining custom checkpoints to an eight year old is not fun.”  
they chuckled at that. jensen yawned before saying.  
“alright, im gonna head back to our room, got a few more things to wrap up before bed... just tell jo what to get and i’ll set things up for you two.”  
“thanks man”  
jensen waved him off as he made his slow departure out of the room. once jensen was gone, pooch slumped back into his bunk.  
“i cant believe it...i’ll get to talk to jo”  
rogue rolled his eyes at his teammate.  
“your like a lovesick puppy”  
pooch shook his head.  
“i don’t care what you say man, im happy.”  
rogue shook his head before taking back a knife from cougar who grinned at him.  
“get off my bed”  
cougar rolled his eyes before leveraging himself up onto his crutches.   
“buenas noches mi amigo (goodnight my friend)”  
pooch didn’t hesitate to say.  
“night cougar”  
rogue grunted at him as he left, rolling his eyes he made his way back to his and jensen’s room. he wasn’t surprised to find the man typing away on his laptop again. he gathered up his sweat pants and hobbled into the bathroom to change. once he was in his sleeping clothes he made his way to his bed and got underneath his blankets.  
“buenas noches”  
“huh? oh...hey cougar....uh...goodnight?”  
cougar chuckled and nodded.  
“si”  
jensen beamed.  
“sweet i got one...okay night.”  
shaking his head at the blonde he turned over and went to sleep to the small tapping sounds of jensen typing away.

*******************

cougar stretched himself out, only a mild wince to his face as his muscles in his ankle twinged. he settled back into his covers before turning over, he blinked. frowning he raised himself up onto his elbows before sighing. jensen was still in his clothes, slumped over his laptop against the wall, asleep. shaking his head he threw the blankets aside before grabbing his crutches. he’d let the man sleep a little longer, regardless of how painful it looked. he gathered up his stuff and went to take a shower.  
he managed to take a shower, make coffee and return with two mugs before jensen even stirred. he figured the smell of the coffee is what did it though. the blonde man yawned before blinking a couple times. he reached up to rub his eyes under his glasses. looking over to cougar who had just settled himself back on his bed he smiled.  
“morning...thanks for the coffee.”  
nodding his head he drank from his cup as he watched the blonde sip at his own while looking over his work. shaking his head he told the man.  
“you will get a kink sleeping like that”  
jensen looked over to him and smiled.  
“yeah i know...happens all the time im afraid, i get caught up in what i’m doing and next thing i know i’m waking up and cant move my neck.”  
he chuckled. cougar shook his head at him as he drank from his own mug of coffee. they both glanced up as they saw the large form of rogue struggle by their door. jensen smirked as the man trudged towards the kitchen.  
“not a morning person is he?”  
“no”  
smirking jensen drank some more of his coffee while he worked. it was the sudden knock of their door frame that made him look up. clay was leaned against it, his own coffee in hand.  
“pooch tells me your giving him a way to talk to jolene”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“uh yeah...is that okay?”  
clay smirked before saying.  
“i don’t know how you do it, its not a problem.”  
jensen grinned.  
“you got it, i’ll spout off technical jargon if you ask.”  
“appreciate it”  
he muttered humorously. clay smirked as he glanced over his shoulder to see his sic walk back to his bedroom a cup of coffee in hand. shaking his head he turned back to the two amused men.  
“don’t interrupt him before he’s had coffee, if were not in the field, he wont hold back.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“gotcha, keep him supplied with caffeine.”  
clay smirked.  
“how is your work going?”  
jensen tilted his head before saying.  
“oh you mean the other teams?”  
clay nodded in a ‘duh’ fashion. jensen grinned at him.  
“oh i finished that up before doing the stuff for pooch.”  
clay blinked at him before asking.  
“all of it?”  
“yeah, why?”  
clay glanced to cougar who was smirking behind his coffee mug. shaking his head he turned back to the hacker and asked.  
“do you have more work to do?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“no, i was going to send a reply into the office for more assignments...is there something you need done?”  
clay thought a moment before deciding to remind the man.  
“did you try to fix the radio’s? i wouldn’t be apposed to those being fixed.”  
jensen smirked before leaning over his bed to fish out a box, he pushed it towards clay. it skidded to a stop in front of the man. looking down he saw a box of radio’s. raising his brow he looked to jensen.  
“they work?”  
jensen smirked.  
“better than they did before that’s for sure...you’ll get another two hundred yards out of em then they previously had. whoever fucked with them before shouldn’t be allowed around electronics.”  
clay knelt down and twisted one on, he fiddled with it until he caught a channel in use, a drill Sargent’s voice coming through, berating his recruits. smirking clay twisted the radio off and nodded.  
“good work jensen”  
the man blinked at him before smiling, his cheeks going a little pink.  
“sure, no problem.”  
he ducked his head back down to what he was working on. clay raised a brow at that, but a glance to cougar got him a shrug. shaking his head he said.  
“i’ll be in my room finishing up some paperwork. remember, you have an appointment tomorrow cougar to get your ankle looked at.”  
“si”  
nodding he glanced to jensen before adding.  
“take him with you and have him checked out too”  
jensen’s head bolted up and the blonde frowned, but before he could argue cougar said.  
“si”  
the blonde glared at the sniper before turning to argue with clay about not needing to be checked out, but the man was gone. sighing he went back to work. he could always tell him later.  
cougar watched jensen’s reaction before smirking as he finished the last of his coffee. the man was clueless about a lot of things, one of the most obvious being that his work was appreciated and valued by them. it was obvious to him and to the others that jensen didn’t know how to respond to praise, clay had just witnessed it firsthand and hadn’t known what to do. cougar himself didn’t know what to do to enforce that jensen was worthy of praise. he figured it would take time, the longer he was around people who valued his skills the more the man would come out of his shell. setting his empty cup down, he reached over and picked up the novel he’d been reading. turning to the page he left off on, he began to catch up on the story.  
it was hours later that the pair was interrupted by pooch saying.  
“im making lunch, any requests?”  
jensen looked up a moment before returning to his work, cougar shook his head. a moment later pooch called out.  
“ better not hear any complaints then”  
“like you’d care if we complained”  
rogue called out from further down the hall. there was pause before pooch replied.  
“keep it up, i’ll go get some mre’s for you instead of cooking.”  
cougar chuckled at the man’s threat. jensen tilted his head as he was listening in. not a moment later rogue called back.  
“make mine that steak bbq thing they try to pass off as food then”  
they both smirked at the man’s description of the mre. a moment later pooch called back.  
“oh hell no, i’m giving you liver and onions you lazy bastard.”  
jensen chuckled before commenting.  
“they stopped making that one, people kept getting food poisoning.”  
cougar raised his brow at that, but jensen was too absorbed in his work to notice. soon enough rogue called back.  
“fine, but i’m going to breath on you all day long, we’ll see who suffers more”  
before there could be any more exchanges down the hallway clay’s distinct voice called out.  
“shut up or your going to be eating in the mess hall with everybody else.”  
jensen smirked.  
“yeah that would do it”  
cougar nodded his head as he returned to his reading. it was blissfully silent until they were called to lunch.

***************

the rest of the day progressed pretty easily for them all. clay ended up leaving shortly after lunchtime to go to the main office on base to file paperwork, rogue went with him for some reason that jensen couldn’t fathom. of all the places to go the main office was the worst, so boring, so strict. he hated it there. pooch had dropped by there room for a moment to tell them that he was going to be doing some maintenance on their jeep, they’d waved him off and returned to their own agenda’s. cougar was happy enough reading, jensen was doing a multitude of things all at once. he had one earbud in his ear listening to music while he decoded a bunch of cryptic files for the base, he sent a virus package to help a team in bangledash get through some security measures, and was wrapping up a thrilling game of words with friends with some kid in asia. occasionally he’d make the odd comment as he worked, it could be about anything as cougar found out. sometimes it was about what he was decoding, other times it was blatant arguments about whether a word his opponent used was actually real and that yes kid im gonna look it up. cougar just smirked as the hacker battled it out against terrorists and a grammatically challenged asian kids all at the same time.   
that was probably why cougar was so amused when both clay and rogue returned, pooch on their heels ecstatic by what they had just told him. cougar arched a brow before turning to look at jensen who they were all watching. the kid at that moment burst out.  
“ha, told ya, that is so fake how do you like this one bitch...mmhmm zaftig it is indeed a word bitch, and she is a fine fine woman.”  
they all raised their brows before rogue yelled out.  
“jensen!”  
the tech startled before looking up, he yanked out his earbud before smiling.  
“uh hey guys...didn’t see you there.”  
rogue snorted at that as it was obvious the man hadn’t noticed them. clay smirked at him while pooch shook his head while pushing through the two men to go sit on the edge of cougars bed. jensen glanced between them all before nervously stating.  
“it is a word you know...i wasn’t lying...totally a word. cheating eleven year old’s...”  
he mumbled the last bit. smirking clay asked.  
“do you know why me and rogue went to command?”  
jensen raised a brow before shaking his head. clay nodded his head before asking.  
“im sure this wont be hard for you, but do me a favor”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“sure whatcha need?”  
“look up your file”  
jensen paused at that before frowning.  
“uh...okay, why?”  
clay just waved at him.  
“go on, look it up and tell me what you see.”  
“i swear i haven’t altered it clay...not since the last time...not that you need to know about that i just realized.”  
clay smirked and nodded.  
“your right i don’t want to know that jensen, but just look it up.”  
sighing, jensen tapped away for a moment before tilting his head as he read through some things...they all knew the moment he caught whatever it was clay wanted him to find. the kid froze before looking up to clay. clay smirked and nodded.  
“congrats, your officially a loser.”  
jensen’s jaw fell open at that. rogue snorted before commenting.  
“if that’s all it took to shut you up i would have signed off days ago.”  
clay smirked at his sic, before returning his attention to the blonde man.  
“i take it you don’t mind me requesting you for our team?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“are-are you sure? i mean you’ve never seen me-”  
“i’ve seen enough jensen.”  
the blonde bit his lip before wincing and stopping the behavior. he finally voiced another concern.  
“but my file-the records and reports-”  
clay shrugged his shoulders.  
“i don’t give a damn what they say about you, you think rogue here has a stellar report?”  
the man growled at his co, but clay ignored him.  
“what about cougar or pooch? we all got here for a reason jensen, were the odd one’s out. yet we work well together. we can do things other teams cant or wont. i expect a lot from my team, you included, but i know you wont let us down.”  
“i wont-i promise”  
clay waved off the nervous man and said.  
“alright then, its all settled. if you have anything else in the barracks, pooch and you should go get it. you’ll be staying here from now on.”  
jensen nodded his head before shaking it.  
“uh no...nothing else.”  
“your sure jensen?”  
pooch asked. he turned to the man and nodded.  
“yeah, i mean i never left anything important behind normally...if i wasn’t on base it went with me, if i was in the hospital it had to stay there...but i always take my stuff, i-i didn’t trust em not to damage it.”  
the others nodded, now well aware of jensen’s treatment inside the barracks. clay pushed off of the doorway as he said.  
“settle in, once you and cougar are given the all clear were sure to be needed elsewhere.”  
jensen nodded his head and smiled at his new boss. rogue followed clay out of the room, leaving the still in shock jensen alone with cougar and pooch. he turned to them and stammered out.  
“did you know?”  
they shook their heads before pooch said.  
“clay can be a sneaky bastard when he wants to be...he went and requested you because you showed how good you are, not because your friends with me and cougar. your skills got you here, not us.”  
cougar nodded beside pooch. jensen shook his head before saying.  
“i cant believe this”  
smirking the pair let it sink in a moment before pooch said.  
“well, im going to go in and call jo, she’ll want to hear about our new tech and i can tell her all about your little plan...she’s gonna love you man.”  
jensen blushed at that but nodded as pooch rose and left them. cougar smirked before saying.  
“you will like jolene, she is a good woman.”  
jensen smirked at him.  
“yeah, i kinda figured that much out, if a guy like pooch fell for her, she’s gotta be something right?”  
cougar inclined his head before saying.  
“si”  
jensen glanced back to his screen only to groan. cougar raised a brow before snorting as the hacker cried out.  
“you little bastard, that is not a word...i am so calling foul on you...triple word score my ass...see how you like this one....ha that’s right punk, read em and weep baby”  
shaking his head the sniper let his new teammate return to his game. he was glad that clay had seen the promise in the man a crossed from him, he and pooch would have vouched for him, but their co hadn’t asked them about the man, instead choosing to do his own research and come to a decision about him on his own merits and not how his team felt.

*************

later that night as they were all eating dinner together pooch brought up to jensen.  
“so jo went right out a bought a webcam...she hung up on me after i told her about it”  
jensen laughed at the man.  
“sorry man, i guess you didn’t account for her being excited about getting to see you.”  
pooch shrugged.  
“yeah i guess so, anyways...she’s getting her brother to help her hook it up and then they’ll send me an email with everything you needed for your part.”  
“sure no problem. just forward it to me and i’ll set ya up.”  
“thanks jensen”  
the man waved him off easily enough, it wasn’t as big a deal to the tech as it was to pooch. the others could see that. clay was the one to bring up their medical checks the following day.  
“pooch will you go with cougar and jensen to get checked out by medical?”  
the man nodded even as jensen groaned.  
“come on, he just broke me out man...they going to hold me hostage again.”  
clay smirked at him before turning his attention back to pooch who was grinning at the hacker.  
“make sure he gets checked out”  
“sure thing...i wont let him go hide on the roof”  
jensen stuck his tongue out at the man. pooch rolled his eyes back at him. the others shook their heads at them, before rogue said.  
“once your given the all clear im going to run you through your paces kid, no teammate of mine is slacking off in the field.”  
jensen looked at him and smirked.  
“okay”  
that’s all he said, no smart ass reply, no rebuttal about his awesome skills. just okay. cougar and pooch looked at him oddly. even rogue raised a brow at that response before adding.  
“im not going to go easy on you kid”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“no problem...uh just out of curiosity is this the standard run through the rest of the base does or do you have something special in mind?”  
rogue glared at him a moment before saying.  
“standard to start...if you can hack that, i’ll try my own stuff on you.”  
jensen smirked at him before commenting.  
“my dear knife wielding friend, i can hack anything.”  
the others chuckled at his play on words, but rogue snorted at him.  
“well see kid.”  
jensen nodded his head at him before pushing his plate away.  
“well im full, that was good...if you guys don’t need me for anything im going to go take a quick shower...when im done we can get you and jo all hooked up alright?”  
pooch nodded his head.  
“sure thanks.”  
he waved him off as he headed down the hallway. the rest of the losers waited for him to disappear before rogue commented.  
“he’s going to be begging for mercy”  
the others rolled their eyes.  
“dude, he’s had special op’s training, im sure he can handle it.”  
pooch defended the man, rogue snorted. it was cougars normally quiet voice that startled them as he said.  
“si, he is strong, he will not fail.”  
rogue looked at the sniper curiously before asking.  
“your so sure? you haven’t seen him in action yet cougar, he could be an ace at all that computer crap and suck balls at running for his own life.”  
cougar shook his head at the losers sic. pooch began to clean up the dishes, clay stood and helped him. cougar ambled to his feet, balancing on his crutches before heading back to the room he shared with jensen now. rogue shook his head after thinking about the possibility of the kid doing halfway decent at his test before shrugging and heading back to his room.  
cougar was taking the time to clean his handgun when jensen strode back into the room in nothing but boxers and a towel draped over his spikey hair. he was wrapped in fresh gauze around his affected area’s, but it shocked cougar to see all the bruises marring the man’s form. he idly wondered what lay beneath the gauze if it was bad enough to warrant covering. jensen caught his shocked expression before he rapidly apologized.  
“oh shit...sorry this bothers you? i can...umm let me find pants...pants pants where are my pants.”  
snorting at the man’s frantic movements he called out.  
“jensen”  
the man twisted about to see the sniper shake his head.  
“you are fine...your bruising-there is so much”  
glancing down at himself he realized what the man meant.  
“oh...yeah okay...yeah i guess its a little weird to see it all since i’ve been wearing a shirt and all...its not too bad.”  
he pointed to one spot before saying.  
“that’s the bad spot...sucker hurts like a son of a bitch and i cant even complain about a broken rib...nothing for it. it just hurts.”  
smirking the sniper said.  
“si, you are well then?”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“oh yeah, im fine...like i said my spanishy friend, no problemo.”  
he smirked at jensen’s reply as he watched the man dig out some sleeping pants before tugging them on gingerly as he contorted himself. once the man was sitting on his bed did cougar ask.  
“no broken ribs?”  
jensen looked up at him and shook his head.  
“no, they said it came close, their a little cracked i guess...but they weren’t really in danger of snapping, so they decided not to wrap me up like a mummy. which i am grateful for by the way, do you know how hard it is to move around like that? you cant do anything with those compression bandages on. you can barely breath in em.”  
shaking his head the sniper said.  
“that is the point amigo”  
jensen made a pft sound.  
“whatever, i like breathing thank you very much. i’d much prefer my oxygen flowing freely, like a good shot of vodka. none of this watered down shit ya know.”  
shaking his head at the man’s analogy for breathing the sniper replied.  
“so long as you are well, it does not matter.”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah i guess, how’s the ankle?”  
“it is...stiff, i do not look forward to strengthening it again.”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, broken limbs always feel like limp noodles afterwards, they’re useless until you train them back up. hey that means you can join me in that torture program rogue wants me to do.”  
cougar shook his head.  
“he will not torture you amigo”  
“uh huh, you say that now, but when no one’s looking...i know what will happen...he’s going to get me back for making him carry all my computer stuff.”  
the sniper smiled at him before saying.  
“bribe him amigo”  
tilting his head to the side jensen asked.  
“huh? how do you bribe someone like rogue?”  
smirking cougar said.  
“find a good knife”  
the man’s words clicked in his head and jensen smirked.  
“oh...you are good my friend....okay yeah, i can do that...knife, knife...who’s got a knife that’s kickass.”  
shaking his head he left the tech to figure it out.  
it was an hour later when pooch knocked on their door frame. jensen looked up and said.  
“pooch my man, you ready to see your lovely lady?”  
pooch smiled.  
“yeah, yeah i am.”  
jensen smirked.  
“come on then, lets see if i cant work this out huh?”  
pooch came and sat beside the hacker on his bed, not bothering to comment on his shiftlessness or the fact that he was covered in bruises and gauzed over patches. he figured that could wait...he’d get the whole truth about it tomorrow anyways when he took him and cougar to medical. he watched jensen type away for a while before the man smirked and said.  
“alrighty then, here we go.”  
a strange square frame popped up in the center of the screen, a login appeared which jensen quickly typed into. once it granted him access pooch saw a single contact in the address list labeled jolene. he smirked at the hacker who smiled back.  
“wanna call her?”  
nodding his head he watched as the hacker initiated a call. a ringing sound came from the laptop before pooch gasped at the sight of his girlfriend appearing on screen. she screamed making them wince.  
“oh my god it worked!”  
she cried, pooch laughed and nodded.  
“i told you honey, jensen here’s the best.”  
jensen colored at that before saying.  
“jolene can you do something for me?”  
she nodded her head.  
“anything”  
pooch watched his teammate, wanting to know what the man wanted from his girlfriend.  
“okay, its real simple, i need you to click on the upper left hand corner, there should be a blue box icon. you see it?”  
she nodded.  
“okay awesome. click it for me”  
jolene did so before saying.  
“the screen changed.”  
“yeah that’s normal...okay a little bar is going to appear soon, i want you to label it for me okay? type in ‘cute dog videos’ for me.”  
she looked at him funny but did as asked.  
“alright, i did that...it went away.”  
jensen smiled at her.  
“awesome, almost done. now what i need you to do is go back to that blue icon and right click on it. a drop down menu is going to appear and i need you to select the lock box feature. its going to ask for a password, just type in dvornyazhka”  
he spelled out the word for her as she looked confused, once she was done he told her to press enter.  
“okay, its back to normal...the icons are gone.”  
jensen nodded.  
“yep, your all set now. i was just having you safeguard it from your end. now if someone tries to hack into your connection all their going to get is a re-route to really awesome dog videos on youtube instead of a connection to pooch here.”  
she laughed at him.  
“really?”  
“yep, you’d be surprised how pissed off people get when they’re re-directed to stupid stuff like that, nine out of ten times they just give up and don’t look any deeper.”  
pooch shook his head at his new teammate.  
“so were safe then? no one can use this against us?”  
jensen nodded.  
“your information is encoded and i fire walled the hell out of her computer and this connection. no one is going to know what you say or who your talking too. jolene your going to notice that the contact is labeled the same password right?”  
she nodded.  
“yeah, whats it mean?”  
“that’s just pooch in russian, you can click that and it will connect you to this laptop.”  
they both laughed at the hackers choice.  
“just a little back up protection. well there you go, you two are all set. here pooch, you can go anywhere you want now.”  
pooch looked at jensen as he took the laptop.  
“i wont talk long-”  
jensen shook his head.  
“don’t worry about it man, i got a backup. you can talk all night if you want. the cord’s over there in case you need it.”  
both jolene and pooch gasped at him.  
“your serious?”  
jensen nodded.  
“yeah, the whole point was for you two to be able to talk whenever you wanted, for however long you wanted...i still need the laptop from time to time for background work, but overall your free to use it until you get one of your own for me to set up for you.”  
they were silent a moment before jensen smiled awkwardly and said.  
“okay...uh have fun?”  
pooch shook his head before telling jolene.  
“i told you he was awesome.”  
the woman on the video chat nodded her head. jensen smirked before waving pooch off. the man rose with the laptop before talking to jolene as he walked out of their room.  
“i’ll go into the living room, you don’t want rogue talking behind me, trust me on that.”  
jensen smirked at the man’s comment before booting up his spare laptop. he was typing away when cougar said.  
“gracias”  
looking up to the sniper he tilted his head.  
“uh okay? why are you thanking me?”  
the sniper smirked at him.  
“for helping pooch and jolene.”  
jensen shrugged.  
“its not a big deal man i-”  
“would you have done that for the men in the barracks”  
jensen was about to shout out ‘fuck no’ when he caught himself and the reason why the sniper was saying such things.  
“alright alright...fine i get it. still its not a big deal. he misses her, i get that...do you have family you’d like to-”  
cougar shook his head at the man before he could finish offering his services.  
“my madre passed many years ago”  
“oh, im sorry.”  
cougar nodded his head.  
“this team is my familia now”  
jensen smirked at him and nodded.  
“yeah, i can see that...jo’s a pretty lady. pooch is lucky.”  
the sniper chuckled and nodded.  
“si, clay and rogue tease him.”  
the hacker shook his head as he went back to work.  
“they got families?”  
“no, none that they speak too”  
jensen nodded his head, it wasn’t uncommon for people in the military to be at ends with family. they both looked up when they saw rogue walk past. raising a brow he looked to cougar when the man made a snorting sound.  
“what?”  
“he is going to scare pooch in front of jo”  
“oh...that’s not nice”  
“no...but funny.”  
smirking jensen shook his head before busting out laughing at the loud holler that was distinctly girlish just as rogue came walking down the hallway again laughing loudly. a moment later pooch shouted.  
“you rat bastard!”  
shaking his head jensen muttered.  
“your all loco”  
cougar smirked at the man’s use of spanish before saying.  
“nosotros somos, pero estamos juntos. ( we are, but we’re together)”  
jensen stopped typing long enough to look at him and mutter.  
“amazon...dictionary...dictionary...”  
chuckling the sniper tilted his hat over his head and said back to the muttering man.  
“tu diccionario no te ayudara ( your dictionary wont help you)”  
jensen grunted before saying.  
“overnight shipping....yes.”  
cougar smiled beneath his hat.

***************

like all mornings, cougar rose and managed to get coffee started for everyone before showering, dressing and returning to their room with two mugs. he set jensen’s down by the man’s bedside. the hacker had actually managed to put his work away and go to sleep in a normal position. he was curled up under his blankets at the moment and seemed content to stay there. cougar smirked as he returned to his own bed to enjoy his morning coffee. pooch hadn’t returned the laptop last night, and he’d never heard or seen the man return to his and rogue’s room so he guessed that the man was in the living room. he hadn’t bothered to look in there on his way to the kitchen.   
he knew that the gift jensen had given pooch and jolene would greatly exceed anything else they could hope to have in comparison. they’d only been allowed one or maybe two phone calls a week, no matter if the man was injured or not. if they were off base, there were no communications. somehow the man was making it work and jo was a patient woman. she understood what it meant to be involved with an army man. she didn’t begrudge pooch his duty, all she asked was for him to be careful and to return to her. not something that was guaranteed, but that pooch promised to try his hardest to achieve.  
cougar glanced over and smirked when a pale hand came out of the pile of blankets to snatch up the coffee mug, before drawing it into the pile. shaking his head he waited for the man to wake up more before speaking to him. it took about five minutes before jensen rose from his laying position beneath the covers to sitting up in bed embracing the coffee cup.  
“oh so precocious.”  
snorting cougar reminded the man.  
“we go to medical today”  
he was surprised by the glare he got, smirking the sniper said.  
“we will protect you.”  
“ha ha, your hilarious...i’ll have you know that they shaved me once like a damned cat...horrible experience man...not to mention itchy as hell as it grew back. i mean what gives them the right to shave me? im not a cat, its not like the hair’s not already a part of me, how could it be in the way?”  
shaking his head the sniper asked.  
“why did they shave you?”  
“hmm, oh surgery”  
shaking his head the sniper told him.  
“that is why”  
the hacker snorted.  
“no im pretty sure its a conspiracy against me...make me like some sphinx cat, all shaved and hairless...poor bastards don’t even realize what’s wrong with them...but i would, oh for damn sure i’d realize im naked...well not naked, though there was that too, i meant hairless...men should not be hairless.”  
chuckling at the man’s train of thought he drank his coffee while listening to the blonde go on and on. it didn’t take long for the hacker to work his way around to other topics, one train of thought branching off into another though cougar couldn’t possibly hope to understand all the tangents the man’s mind was capable of tracking. he was a little relieved when pooch interceded a rather colorful rant about why the hacker thought twinkies should be a part of the food pyramid. pooch looked at the hacker a moment before shaking his head and announcing his arrival.  
“jensen”  
the hacker looked up.  
“oh hey poochman, how was your video date?”  
smirking the transport specialist said.  
“it was good, thanks again for setting that up...other than rogue being an ass, we had a great time. anyways, wanted to warn you. you got forty till we head out.”  
the hacker nodded his had as he climbed out of bed and gathered some clothes for a quick shower.  
“got it, i’ll be ready.”  
pooch watched the man head off before turning to look at cougar.  
“we are damned lucky clay scooped him up before someone else realized what he’s capable of.”  
“si”  
smirking at the sniper he said.  
“im going to get ready. you two meet me outside ten till alright?”  
“si”  
used to the limited responses by the man, he walked away without any further comment. cougar waited patiently for his teammate/roommate to be ready to go. jensen came back to their room fully dressed, though the sniper had to tilt his head at the strange sight of a man wearing jeans and a bright pink shirt with flowers and the print ‘petunias’ a crossed it. jensen didn’t seem to notice his staring because he dealt with his dirty laundry before twisting about and saying.  
“your ready?”  
“si...your shirt?”  
looking down jensen looked back up to him and said.  
“oh yeah, the petunia’s are beth’s soccer team.”  
the sniper smirked at him as he snatched up his crutches and made to leave. jensen followed after the man with no hesitation or qualms about his attire. as they passed rogue in the living room the sic spit out his coffee and demanded.  
“what the fuck are you wearing?”  
jensen looked at him before saying.  
“a shirt and pants...you?”  
glaring the sic barked out.  
“its pink”  
looking down to his shirt jensen nodded.  
“yeah...its my niece’s soccer team. did you know that at one time pink was actually considered manly, you were one tough dude if you strolled around wearing it, proved your virility or something...oh hey okay yeah we gotta go...see ya dude.”  
jensen waved at rogue as cougar tugged on his teammate, a smirk on his face at the sight of disbelief on rogue’s face. jensen happily went outside, never hearing cougar tell the man.  
“leave it”  
before he accompanied jensen out to the jeep and after they were loaded in and buckled ‘pooch’s orders’ they made the trip to the medical center on base.

*********************

pooch strolled up to the counter and happily announced.  
“my team’s here for a check up”  
the nurse nodded before requesting.  
“names”  
“carlos alvarez and jake jensen”  
the nurse nodded before typing into her computer a moment. without bothering to look back up at pooch or the two men beside him she said.  
“third floor...dr. kline will see them.”  
“k thanks”  
they strode off towards the elevator and after a quick ride to the third floor were seated in the waiting room. jensen was kicking his feet back and forth in his chair much like a child would do. pooch and cougar smirked at his behavior. it wasn’t long before they were called. the nurse asking.  
“do you want to be seen together or separately?”  
jensen looked to cougar and said.  
“i don’t care, what about you?”  
cougar shook his head, so pooch told the lady.  
“their fine together...it alright if i tag along...our co wants me to report in on how their doing and we cant always count on cougar here telling the truth.”  
the woman smiled as the hat wearing man scowled at his teammate. jensen snickered as he followed after the nurse after she had nodded that it was alright for pooch to follow them.   
once they had been taken to a room, pooch found a chair and left it to cougar and jensen to figure out who was going up first. jensen smiled before motioning for the sniper to hop up onto the table. he glared at the blonde, but did as asked. once he was seated, he glared harder when jensen stole his crutches and tossed them to pooch. the hacker smiled back at cougar and said.  
“now you cant escape, if i suffer you suffer.”  
the sniper snorted at that before gesturing towards the window. jensen smirked.  
“long way down dude, not so sure your ankles up to that.”  
pooch shook his head before saying.  
“no one is bailing out the window”  
they all turned when a tall man with greying hair stared at them with amusement in the doorway.  
“well, i guess i don’t have to ask if you want to be here...don’t worry i wont keep you long gentlemen.”  
pooch smirked at the man while both jensen and cougar looked a little embarrassed for being caught. the doctor strolled up to cougar and said.  
“im dr. kline, your?”  
“carlos”  
nodding his head he adjusted which file he was holding and read some things a moment before stating.  
“alright, lets take a look at that ankle of yours, say’s you cracked some of the bones in your ankle and tore some tendon’s...nothing overly worry some, but im sure it hurt all the same.  
“si”  
the doctor smirked at him before gesturing for jensen to move. the blonde made his way to pooch’s side and leaned against the wall so the doctor could move around cougar easily. the sniper grimaced as the doctor jostled his ankle before beginning to undo the braces connector straps.   
“this might be uncomfortable, just breath”  
cougar nodded and hissed when his ankle was free for the first time since he was in the hospital. his ankle was still bruised, but it had faded quiet a bit, the swelling wasn’t bad either. the doctor tilted his head this way and that before nodding.  
“alright, i’d like to get an x-ray just to be sure, but i think if things hold true another four weeks and you’ll be ready to return to duty”  
cougar nodded his head to the doctor. dr. kline made his way to the door.  
“im going to get a nurse to take you down to radiology and we’ll snap some pictures...we’ll get your brace back on you afterwards alright?”  
“si”  
nodding the doctor left them a moment, cougar sighed as he glared down at his throbbing ankle.  
“hey wont be held up as long”  
he glanced to pooch and nodded his head. if his ankle was doing as well as the doctor said, they wouldn’t be held on base for nearly as long as they had feared. a few moment passed before a woman bustled in along side the doctor with a wheelchair.  
“alright mr. alvarez lets get you down for some x-rays.”  
pooch helped the doctor manhandle cougar into the wheelchair and after the man was settled the transport specialist said.  
“we’ll wait in the waiting room for you if you beat us”  
cougar waved a hand at him in agreement to his terms. once the sniper was on his way the doctor turned his attention to jensen.  
“alright your turn. hop on up for me.”  
jensen nodded his head and climbed up onto the exam bed.  
“alright, i need you to take off your shirt for me.”  
jensen nodded and stripped out of his bright pink shirt easily enough, only a few twinges of pain at the movement, which he easily hid from the doctor and pooch. the doctor leaned down to examine his patient and made a hmming sound. he pointed to the darker bruise on jensen’s chest.  
“your file doesn’t say you have any broken ribs”  
“i don’t...they just said it bruised badly.”  
the doctor glanced up to him a moment before asking him in all seriousness.  
“you’ve had broken ribs before right? you know how they feel?”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah, doesn’t feel like that...no burning or grating sensation...it just hurts.”  
nodding his head the doctor asked.  
“do you mind if i palpitate the area? just to be sure.”  
jensen sighed before nodding.  
“fine...this is going to suck”  
the doctor smirked at him, while pooch chuckled behind them.  
“just breath dude, it’ll be over soon.”  
“the window’s looking real nice right now dude, don’t push me.”  
pooch laughed a little before saying.  
“breath dude”  
jensen nodded and grit his teeth as he hissed upon the man’s fingers probing his side. biting his lip to withhold the shout he wanted to voice as the sharp stabbing pain flared under his skin. the doctor pulled back a moment later and shook his head. jensen sagged, his arm coming up to wrap protectively around his chest.  
“well your right, nothing’s broken...i just don’t like the looks of it, nor how much pain its causing you...how long has it been since your accident?”  
jensen wanted to snort about the whole ‘accident’ bit, but didn’t want to have to explain to pooch what had happened so he just bit out.  
“three weeks.”  
the doctor shook his head.  
“it shouldn’t be that bruised this far out”  
pooch spoke up from behind them.  
“is he going to be alright? what could cause that?”  
jensen inwardly muttered to himself. ‘a steel toed boot and a pissed off general’. but didn’t voice anything as the doctor replied.  
“well i’d like to get either an ultra sound or an x-ray...i cant feel any broken bones, but the bruising suggests otherwise. lets finish up your examine and then we’ll get a quick picture.”  
jensen nodded his head, already knowing that it wasn’t a question of whether he’d submit to the test, but when the doctor wished to do it. he lowered his arm from around himself to allow the man to gently peel off the gauze padding around the stitch sites he had. the doctor nodded his head as he inspected them all, jensen glanced up when he saw pooch move to get a better look. unable to help himself he called out.  
“jo aint going to like you looking at this fine packaging man...best keep your stares for her”  
pooch snorted at him.  
“dumb ass”  
jensen smirked at his teammate, the doctor finished up before recovering the stitches. once he was sure everything was in order. he made his way to the door to call another nurse.  
“i can walk”  
the doctor smiled at him and nodded.  
“i know, you still need an escort though.”  
the blonde smiled sheepishly at that, but let the doctor get a nurse to take him down for whatever picture he wanted to get of his side. just as the nurse arrived to escort him, pooch said.  
“i’ll be in the waiting room when your done.”  
“okay cool”  
jensen followed after the nurse obediently, leaving pooch to return to the waiting room to wait for his two teammates.

************

pooch flipped another page in the magazine he was looking through, the sound of cougar’s voice got his attention, it took a minute for him to register the man’s question.  
“oh they took him for an x-ray too...that gnarly bruise he’s got made the doc concerned...he couldn’t feel any breaks, but didn’t like that its been three weeks and that he shouldn’t be that bruised this far out from the accident.”  
the sniper nodded his head. his ankle was once more encased in his cast, he settled himself into the chair beside pooch and lowered his crutches to the floor to wait.  
it was nearly twenty minutes later that jensen was walked into the room by a male nurse supporting him. pooch got to his feet first and asked.  
“what happened?”  
jensen shook his head at him.  
“im fine”  
the nurse snorted at him, before helping him into a chair opposite cougar. the sniper was watching the pale man carefully, but glanced up when the nurse spoke to pooch.  
“don’t let him get back up alright? he already almost took a header into a wall. he needs a break before he starts moving around again.”  
pooch nodded before asking what had happened. the nurse looked down to the blonde who was slumped back in the chair.  
“they had to move him around a lot and they had to push on the sight to feel where they wanted to focus the x-ray on...he’s in a fair amount of pain right now, he got up too soon afterwards and nearly crashed himself into a wall. the nurses caught him in time, but he threw up on them...just let him breath it out. the doctor will be out soon to talk to you about it.”  
pooch nodded, his frown moving to the pale form of the hacker. jensen’s eyes were closed as he leaned back in his chair. he was breathing shakily and his arm was once more wrapped around his chest. glancing to cougar he saw the snipers intense gaze on his roommate. pooch begrudgingly took his seat back beside cougar, the two of them keeping an eye on the hacker as he lay quietly in his chair.  
pooch and cougar’s attention came instantly on the doctor when the man entered the waiting room, he approached them calmly and before they could utter any questions said.  
“carlos, your ankle’s doing well by the film we took, two weeks and you can take the brace off for good. you can start to take it off for short periods, but your not to put any weight on it until the two weeks are up. after that you can start rehabilitating it, train it back up to strength. you should be ready to return to duty in four weeks.”  
the sniper nodded his head, wanting to move things along to find out what was wrong with jensen. the doctor turned his focus to the hacker and frowned.  
“jensen are you with me son?”  
the doctor knelt down beside the kid’s chair, but jensen just continued to breath, frowning he looked back to the man’s teammates.  
“he had a rough time at x-ray.”  
both of the men nodded, before pooch spoke.  
“yeah the nurse brought him in, said he threw up and nearly brained himself...what’s wrong with him?”  
the doctor looked back at his patient before telling the men present.  
“well, he doesn’t have any broken ribs, none are under strain even. if there’s a few cracks in there, their small cause i couldn’t see them on the film...its all soft tissue damage, it takes a while to heal and its dreadfully painful, that’s why he threw up and lost his balance in the first place. having me and then the nurses touch the area so forcefully was just a lot for him to take in. he’ll be alright, he just needs to take it easy a while and to mind that area. he can put a wrapped ice pack on the area if he thinks it’ll help, but otherwise all you can do is wait it out. let him catch his breath and take him back to your barracks, he should probably take it easy today, no running around.”  
pooch nodded to the doctor.  
“yeah no problem. he can lay down in his room the rest of the day, we got nothing to do while these two heal up, so there’s no problem there.”  
the doctor smiled at him.  
“good, you tell your co, carlos will be fit for duty in four maybe five weeks top, jake here should be ready in about two weeks so long as he doesn’t damage the area again. his sutures are holding and the sights are clean, no signs of infection. you two rest up and you’ll be ready in no time.”  
cougar nodded along side pooch. the doctor stood up, dusted himself off and wished them the best.  
“don’t hesitate to come back if something pop’s up.”  
“we wont...thanks doc”  
he nodded and headed off to see his next patient. pooch sighed before glancing to cougar.  
“well, at least its not internal bleeding or some shit like that”  
cougar nodded.  
“si”  
the two waited a while before pooch asked.  
“so...how long do we wait?”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders. jensen appeared to be relaxed now, his breathing had calmed and he no longer had the pinched face he had when the nurse had first brought him in to them. sighing pooch got up from his chair and went to kneel beside jensen. gently he set his hand on the man’s arm and shook him.  
“jake...jensen, dude you with us?”  
jensen groaned before he finally popped open his eyes, they looked around a minute before landing on pooch. he blinked before mumbling.  
“i should have taken the window”  
pooch grinned at him.  
“well too late for that, come on, if you feel up to the trek back down, we can head back and you can go to sleep back at the house.”  
jensen nodded his head, slowly sitting up in his chair. he tightened his arm around himself before breathing out sharply. pooch frowned.  
“i can get a wheelchair.”  
jensen shook his head at him before after taking a few breaths said.  
“nope...im good...might need some help up though.”  
smirking pooch nodded his head and helped the man to his feet, he kept a hold of the blonde until he was sure the man wasn’t going to lose his balance. assured that jensen was at least for the moment stable, he turned his attention to cougar who had already scooped up his crutches and was ready to go.  
“alright, lets take this nice and slow...were not in any hurry to get back.”  
cougar nodded to his friend and stayed beside pooch as he walked slowly beside jensen who was focusing on his breathing as they made their way to the elevator. as they waited, jensen slumped against the wall and sighed.  
“damn...i’d take broken ribs over this shit”  
they both smirked at him, before pooch said.  
“i’ll remember that for later”  
jensen gave a half hearted glare at the man. once the elevator arrived, pooch helped jensen inside before pressing the correct button. the three of them rode the elevator down to the main floor. pooch bracing jensen when the elevator jerked to a stop. the blonde muttered a curse under his breath before letting pooch help him forward once more. it was slow going but they made their way outside. pooch offered to go get the jeep, but jensen shook his head before admitting.  
“i stop, im not starting again”  
pooch nodded his head at that and made sure to keep the man moving. he pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the back door for cougar, while he helped jensen into the front seat. the blonde was a little confused, until pooch said.  
“the back windows don’t open. the fresh air will help some.”  
the blonde nodded his head and climbed in. sagging into the soft interior. pooch frowned at the blonde before making sure that cougar was set. he moved the man’s crutches to the back of the vehicle before hoping into the drivers seat and pulling out. it was a silent drive back to their house, occasionally pooch would glance to jensen to see how the man was, but the hacker had closed his eyes almost as soon as he was seated in the car and appeared to be down for the count. looking in the rear view mirror he caught cougar’s eyes and said.  
“can you stay in the car with him while i go get rogue to help”  
nodding his head the sniper replied.  
“i will stay”  
smirking pooch glanced back over to the blonde who didn’t even seem to be aware that they were talking about him. shaking his head he focused on the road and drove them back to their house.  
pulling up outside the house they called home when on base, pooch made the car stop as gently as he could so as not to jostle jensen. once the car was in park and shut off he hopped out and ran around to open up the back and hand cougar his crutches. after he was set, he ran into the house to go get rogue.  
their sic was lounging on the couch, sharpening some of his knives as he watched some t.v.. not a surprising activity for the man. rogue glanced up when pooch came in alone.  
“you leave them there?”  
he grinned. pooch snorted.  
“no jackass, their in the car, but jensen’s a little fucked up right now so i need your help to get him in here. cougar’s watching him for me.”  
raising a brow the man asked.  
“what do you mean fucked up? it was just a checkup”  
pooch sighed before explaining as fast as possible.  
“he has a dark bruise on his chest, the doc was concerned it was broken ribs that hadn’t been braced...turns out there’s nothing broken just soft tissue damage. but they pushed on it so damn much the kid threw up and almost took a header to a wall. doctor says he needs to take it easy while it heals up, he’s been out since we got him to the car. so get up and come help me.”  
snorting, the large man tossed his knife onto the table before following the man outside. cougar was leaning against the jeep, he glanced their way from where he’d been watching jensen. as they approached pooch asked.  
“he stir?”  
the sniper shook his head. nodding his own. he made sure rogue was ready to catch the hacker just in case he fell out of the vehicle. cougar was a few paces away from the car to give them room. rogue rolled his eyes before saying.  
“just open the door, i’ll catch him”  
pooch glared at him before opening the door. it turned out they didn’t have to worry about that, cause jensen didn’t move an inch from where he had been in the car. reaching in, pooch took the man’s legs and swung him around. he tapped on the kids shoulder to see if he’d wake back up.  
“jake...jake...were here, can you wake up buddy?”  
the kid groaned before opening his eyes he glanced to pooch before jerking a bit at rogue being so close, he grimaced in pain at the sudden move. pooch sighed.  
“come on dude, he’s just here to help me get you inside. help us out and walk a bit.”  
jensen nodded, but let each of them take an arm and as gently as they could they hoisted the kid down so they could move him towards the house. jensen helped to walk himself forward, though he leaned heavily on them. he was wiped, and in a considerable amount of pain. all he wanted was to lay back down. cougar lead them into the house and made sure the path to jensen’s bed was clear. he made his way to his own and sat. watching as pooch and rogue got the man into their room and lowered him to his bed. rogue let the kid go as pooch gently pushed him to lay down. once he was laid out the blonde muttered.  
“i want a do over...this day sucks”  
smirking pooch shook his head as he straightened himself out.  
“no do overs kid, you take it easy. im going to bring you both some med’s for the pain.”  
jensen grunted at that, but didn’t move. turning around pooch was surprised to find rogue still in the room. the sic was looking down at the blonde hacker curiously. sighing pooch moved past him to go retrieve the pills for his two teammates. rogue stared at the blonde who had his eyes shut, he had moved one of his arms to wrap around his chest as if bracing a broken rib. rogue glanced to their sniper, cougar was watching him, but hadn’t said anything. not all that surprising as the man hardly said more than fifty words on a good day.  
“how long you down for?”  
cougar regarded the man silently for a moment before saying.  
“four weeks”  
the sniper had a smirk to his face showing that he wasn’t planning on listening to that order. rogue snorted at that before turning his head to glance down at the hacker.  
“and him?”  
“two”  
nodding he strode out of the room without another word, passing pooch on the way and saying.  
“i’ll tell clay their down time”  
the transport specialist just nodded, not really caring what the man did. he entered cougars and jensen’s room and after passing a glass to the sniper and some pills, made his way to sit on the edge of jensen’s bed.  
“hey, you ready for some drugs? help you relax.”  
the blonde peeled his eyes open after the man had gently nudged him.  
“my sister always warned me about peer pressure.”  
snorting pooch said.  
“whatever smart ass, take the damn pills would you.”  
the blonde smirked tiredly at him before accepting the pills and the glass of water. he choked them down before setting the glass aside.  
“thanks...sorry for all the trouble.”  
pooch shook his head.  
“at least we know your not going to die from internal bleeding”  
jensen smirked at him as his eyes slid shut once more.  
“yeah...that would suck.”  
snorting, pooch patted the man’s leg as he got up.  
“get some rest”  
the hacker nodded as he snuggled into his pillow. pooch looked to cougar as the sniper had reclined in his bed as well. however unlike most of the time, he didn’t have his hat pulled down over his eyes. the man nodded to him, a silent ‘i will watch him’ passing between them. pooch waved at him on his way out before gently shutting their door to help shield from any noise.  
cougar glanced over to jensen, the blonde appeared to have already fallen back to sleep, not that he could blame the man. his body was slowly relaxing into his bed, no longer radiating tenseness or pain. adjusting himself in his own bed, cougar settled in to doze, using his training to listen out for any subtle change his roommate as he closed his eyes to rest.


	5. spanishy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jensen finally gets to start learning spanish and oh the chaos that will bring.

it was hours later, when cougar’s eyes snapped open, he relaxed instantly upon seeing that it was only clay. the man quietly shut the door behind him as he entered. he glanced to jensen before turning his attention towards the sniper. his co approached him before standing before his bed so he could talk quiet enough to hopefully not disturb the sleeping hacker. cougar moved his legs and motioned for the man to sit. clay wasn’t normally one to do so, he preferred to stand, but this time he sat. he gave another glance to the other side of the room before looking back at cougar.  
“rogue says you got another four weeks”  
“si”  
smirking clay asked.  
“how long until you’ll really be ready?”  
he knew his sniper well and he also knew that cougar wasn’t about to start listening to a doctor if he thought he’d be ready sooner. cougar smirked at clay before saying.  
“two”  
nodding his head the man asked.  
“and jensen? do you think he’ll be ready then?”  
the sniper glanced to the hacker before saying.  
“i do not know...he say’s he is fine, he is a terrible liar”  
smirking clay said.  
“well make sure to warn him about playing cards with rogue then...how bad was he?”  
cougar caught his co’s eyes to say.  
“he was pale, shaking...he could not focus...the doctor is right, he needs rest.”  
“you agree with a doctor?”  
clay said amused. the sniper glared at him before saying.  
“si, jake is not me, i do not know his pain tolerance, only what i see.”  
“true, were going to have to feel him out until we find out for ourselves just how much he can handle. until then your my eyes and ears cougar...if he’s pushing it, push back. he’s no use to us if he cant take the time he needs to heal up.”  
“si, i will make sure he rests”  
“good, we’ll see how he is when your ready. if he needs more time we can leave him here to rest...if he’s ready, he comes with.”  
nodding his head the sniper watched as his co stood up gave them both a glance before heading out. he shut the door softly behind him, cougar could vaguely hear pooch talking to who he assumed was jolene based on the conversation snippet he heard. smirking he glanced over to his teammate, jensen would work out. he knew it.  
only an hour later there was a quiet knock on their door before it came open, pooch peered in before catching sight of cougar sitting up and reading. assured that he wasn’t waking him, the man walked in.  
“hey, lunch is ready...do you want me to bring it in here?”  
cougar glanced to jensen who hadn’t so much as budged while sleeping.  
“i don’t think he’s up to eating right now cougar, let him sleep it off.”  
nodding the sniper grabbed his crutches and got up. pooch opened the door wider for him and after they were both out, shut the door behind them to leave jensen to his nap. the pair made their way to the kitchen where the others were eating. getting himself into the chair he let pooch lean his crutches against the wall before he took his own seat.   
lunch was a mostly silent affair, there wasn’t much to talk about. pooch told them about talking with jo some more, but other than that there wasn’t much brought up. just as they were finishing did clay tell them.  
“cougar and i talked, he said he’ll be ready in two weeks not four...if jensen’s better by then he’ll be coming with, if not we’ll leave him behind so he can heal up. the brass has already determined where we’ll be going next...the situation’s being watched, but they think it will hold until our team is ready.”  
rogue nodded his head before asking.  
“where we headed?”  
“ libya, they have intel that there’s a human trafficking ring going down there. so far nothings manifested, so their thinking of sending us in to figure out if its just rumors, or if there’s actually something there.”  
the group nodded their heads. they’d dealt with similar situations before, this was nothing new to them.  
“if the situation changes, they’ll call in another team. until that happens were the front runners on this operation. so be ready to head out asap.”  
rogue glanced to cougar and said.  
“you better heal up, i want to get a chance to pound some faces in...plus i got that knew blade the last time we were out, want to try that out too.”  
the man grinned broadly. cougar snorted at him, not taking the barb to heart. it was pooch who told rogue.  
“you always have a new knife to try out, that’s no reason for him to break his ankle again by trying to be ready before he is. you want to punch some people go to the training yard, far too many rookies who need to be taken down a peg or two. go wild man.”  
rogue grinned at pooch.  
“they wont come near me”  
pooch rolled his eyes at that.  
“that’s cause you don’t hold back, you’ve got a reputation now dude. you cant expect them all to be brainless idiots who will just charge at you headfirst.”  
rogue snorted at him.  
“they used too”  
rolling his eyes pooch exclaimed.  
“yeah until you broke that dude’s shoulder, you think that didn’t spread like wildfire? of course their scared shit less of you. besides im sure words gotten round of what you did to the idiot who was beating on jensen, you may not have roughed him up much, but their gonna realize that you ain’t playing around since you defended the barrack’s pariah.”  
rogue huffed at pooch, clay and cougar smirked. they all knew that rogue didn’t like the fact that he had been wrong about the hacker, pooch bringing it up even in a obtuse manner was like poking a sleeping bear. you might get away with it the first time, but not the second. luckily pooch left it at that. it was quiet just a moment before they all jerked around at the sound of a loud thump. they frowned before cougar whispered.  
“jensen”  
pooch was the first to get to his feet, but was prevented from going anywhere when said blonde hacker stumbled into the kitchen rubbing his head as he said.  
“who shut the door?”  
smirking pooch retook his seat as the hacker found his own chair between him and cougar. the others were smirking at the hacker, but rogue was the first to ask.  
“you ran into the damn door?”  
jensen lifted his head to look at him and nod.  
“well yeah, its never been closed before and i know the layout of this place now so i wasn’t too worried about it...so who shut it? and why?”  
pooch shook his head as he explained.  
“we didn’t want you to be woken up by any noise so we shut it after i came and got cougar.”  
the hacker nodded his head, his hand finally lowering to the table. they all took notice of his other arm still being wrapped around his chest. cougar was the one to ask  
“ estas bien? (are you alright?)”  
jensen looked to him before shaking his head and proudly stating.  
“that dictionary should be here any time now...your days are numbered my spanishy friend.”  
the others laughed while cougar shook his head, pooch dared to ask.  
“spanishy? that’s not a word and what dictionary are you talking about?”  
jensen colored a little before jabbing a finger accusingly towards cougar.  
“all his fault, he knows i don’t understand spanish, so i threatened to get a dictionary...he still wont just ask me in english so its on its way and i will figure out what he’s saying.”  
shaking his head in disbelief pooch looked around the kid to cougar and said.  
“seriously?”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders, but clay was spoke up for his sniper.  
“he resorts to spanish a lot, were used to it. i doubt you ‘ll be able to keep up in that dictionary you ordered. all you have to do is ask and he’d clarify for you.”  
jensen frowned before shaking his head.  
“nope, not good enough...im gonna figure it out on my own. and you-”  
he pointed to cougar.  
“better watch it, i’ll start speaking in russian or arabic...or any other language i think you might not know.”  
cougar smirked at him before saying.  
“te gusta hablar demasiado para hacer eso por mucho tiempo ( you like to talk too much to do that for long.)”  
jensen blinked at him before scowling.  
“overnight delivery wasn’t fast enough”  
cougar smirked at him, while clay shook his head at the battling teammates. pooch was laughing uproariously beside jensen while rogue rolled his eyes at them. finally pooch interrupted them.  
“you hungry jake?”  
the blonde turned and nodded his head before realizing something.  
“yeah...hey you called me jake”  
smirking as he got up pooch said.  
“it is your name dude”  
the blonde shrugged a bit before hissing and muttering.  
“memo, don’t do that...damn...uh yeah i know its my name dude, im just not used to people actually using it. most people call me jensen, its kinda what im used too...and i wont repeat what my sister calls me.”  
clay asked if the hacker was alright, but jensen smiled.  
“im cool, nothing to worry about. right pooch? im not bleeding to death, that would be so messy... i mean not if it was internal i guess, but still really inconvenient.”  
the bald man snorted as he fixed the hacker a sandwich.  
“right...cause bleeding out would be more convenient.”  
he said as he placed the sandwich down for jensen. the blonde thanked him before muttering.  
“well it would be, if it weren’t for all the blood. do you know how hard it is to get blood out of things? i mean you’d think it was industrial grade adhesive with how it bonds to shit.”  
pooch shook his head at the hacker as he started to eat. rogue climbed to his feet and muttered about going to find some recruits to hit. jensen looked up and tilted his head as the man left. clay shook his head before saying.  
“its fine...he gets cabin fever.”  
jensen nodded as he chewed and swallowed.  
“yeah, im the same if i don’t have a laptop...you do not want to be around me if i have nothing to do...my sister said im like those gremlin’s from the movie...pure evil if i don’t have something to focus all my energy into. i think she’s exaggerating of course.”  
clay smirked at the kid. he was something else. unable to hold his curiosity at bay he asked.  
“so did you get more work to do?”  
cougar chuckled causing clay to look at him strangely. pooch was shaking his head as well. jensen looked up from his sandwich to say.  
“oh that? they didn’t give me much so i finished that before i hooked pooch into the video stuff with jolene...its all done... they wont give me any more...they have rules, it sucks. i hate being bored...and i’ve kicked that asian kids ass at words with friends like twenty times...i think he’s refusing to play me anymore.”  
clay just stared at the hacker while pooch chuckled and said.  
“find another player dude.”  
jensen turned to look at him and nodded.  
“yeah, i like it best when i have someone from another country, its more challenging that way. you’d be surprised what language is used abroad that we don’t use here. plus its just downright fun to fuck with people by using slang words from here. confuses the hell outta them.”  
“idiota”  
he turned and nodded to cougar.  
“i know its awesome right?”  
clay smirked at the hacker while cougar chuckled at the kids oblivious nature. he wasn’t about to tell jensen what it meant if cougar wasn’t. he figured the kid would figure it out when his dictionary arrived. that should be interesting. getting up from his chair he told the group.  
“im going to finish up some reports, you two take it easy...pooch did you finish the work i gave you?”  
“yep, all done.”  
clay nodded.  
“good, your free to do what ever you want till we need to get packing.”  
jensen perked up at that and asked.  
“were going somewhere? but cougar has another four weeks right?”  
clay smirked at the blonde before informing him.  
“cougar only needs two more weeks to be ready, he doesn’t rely on the doctors opinions for that. he knows his body and how far he can push it. there’s a situation in libya that needs our attention as soon as we can go. so in two weeks were heading out.”  
jensen nodded his head before asking.  
“do you have the files for it yet?”  
clay raised a brow before nodding.  
“i can get intel, stuff the brass cant...it might help.”  
smirking clay instructed the kid.  
“your supposed to be taking it easy today...you rest up and i’ll give you the files in a couple days. anything you can find would help. if your given the all clear you’ll be going with us.”  
the blonde frowned.  
“but im fine clay...i don’t need-”  
he snapped his jaw shut when clay cut him off.  
“i don’t know you well enough to know if your forcing yourself to function when you should be resting still. so until we get to know each other better, i’ll be taking the doctors word as law. you get the all clear from them, you can go. if not, there will be plenty of other missions after this one. we clear corporal?”  
“yes sir”  
nodding his head clay smirked at the pouting man and said.  
“take it easy, i’ll give you the files when your no longer running into doors”  
he walked off even as he heard jensen shout out.  
“hey that was pooch’s fault...bad pooch, look what you did”  
shaking his head as he walked down the hallway, clay wondered just how much trouble this team was going to be now that they had jensen with them.

*****************

pooch glared at jensen who was smiling as he finished off his sandwich.  
“your hilarious...that door was your fault.”  
jensen shook his head.  
“nuh uh. i got this place mapped in my head, if you hadn’t of closed it, i would have been fine to navigate with my eyes closed.”  
cougar snorted from beside him, the hacker sent him a glare before turning back to pooch who was giving him an unimpressed look.  
“fine. how about this, i will forgive your horrible transgression against my head, if you go check to see if my dictionary for mr. spanishy here has arrived.”  
he gestured with his thumb towards cougar. pooch laughed before nodding.  
“sure, sure. you better start looking up the curse words though. he’s going to start using them if you keep calling him that.”  
jensen smiled before twisting to look at the glaring sniper. he put his head in the palm of his hand and said.  
“sanakun akhiraan hatta sadiqi ( we will finally be even my friend)”  
cougar raised a brow at that. jensen smirked.  
“see how you like it huh, i can keep that up for months.”  
snorting at the blonde he replied  
“veremos (we will see)”  
jensen blinked at him before scowling and asking.  
“what curse is that? i’ll find out you know”  
cougar smirked at the clueless man in front of him. speaking with jensen was turning out to be a enjoyable pastime. the blonde got to his feet and put away his dish before making his way to the wall where cougar’s crutches were. the sniper watched him warily, figuring that the man would take off with them. but jensen just played with them a moment before handing them over.  
“my niece got to see me once on crutches, i swear she thought it was her job to trip me. course she was only four at the time, but still, i mean you see a guy hobbling around you do not go in between his legs. that’s just mean, but she did it and after i’d fall on my ass she’d just laugh like it was the best game in the world.”  
cougar smirked at him as he hoisted himself up to balance on the crutches. he followed jensen into the living room and the pair each took one half of the sofa. jensen relaxed into the well worn sofa, one arm still bracing his chest. cougar put his casted ankle on the coffee table, letting his crutches fall to the floor.   
it only took a moment for jensen to start filling the void of silence.  
“alright so tell me mr. spanish sniper dude...what the longest distance you’ve landed a shot on somebody?”  
cougar tilted his head a moment in consideration to the man’s question. before he finally spoke in his soft voice.  
“ 1760 yards”  
jensen smirked at him before saying  
“that’s a mile dude”  
nodding his head the sniper said.  
“si”  
jensen shook his head.  
“you got some mad skills dude.”  
cougar smirked, he knew he was a talented sniper. it still amazed him that others saw it as a positive thing, him being able to take lives from so far away. he knew his team saw it differently, they liked knowing he had eyes on them, that with a twitch of his finger he could stop someone from hurting them and truthfully he liked that as well.   
“alright so you’ve shot someone from a mile away, have you landed any awesome shots?”  
cougar frowned at the blonde, he did not understand what the man meant, but before he could ask jensen elaborated.  
“ya know, like ricochet, or shooting the rope of something to make shit crash down on people...where your bullet didn’t kill em, your brains did.”  
smirking cougar shook his head at the man.  
“si, i shot a light post”  
frowning jensen waited, but the man said no more. sighing he said.  
“and...”  
smirking cougar said.  
“and the spark’s from the lamp, set the spilled gasoline on the ground on fire”  
“why was there gas on the ground?”  
cougar smirked at him. jensen cracked up at that.  
“oh damn, that’s good. poor bastards didn’t even realize it did they.”  
“no, they were too busy trying to locate rogue...they failed.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“well yeah, if your setting them on fire, rogue is the least of their problems.”  
cougar smirked at the man before deciding to ask a question of his own.  
“what is the most damage you have caused...hacking.”  
jensen smirked at him.  
“well, i mean i’ve torn people’s security to shit and all that, but that’s pretty standard now a days...really i’d say my proudest moment was hacking into a man’s records, changing all of his documentation, forging documents to make nearly all of his money go into a trust fund he wouldn’t have access too, plus any future income being siphoned to add onto said trust. and then sending enough information to the fed’s to have him arrested and put in jail.”  
cougar blinked at him a moment before whistling.  
“that is a lot for one man, what did he do?”  
jensen smirked at him before leaning over and saying.  
“keep a secret?”  
cougar tilted his head and nodded. jensen smirked.  
“don’t fuck with my family.”  
cougar grinned at him as jensen sat back and said.  
“just saying, him walking away from sarah was the best thing for her, but i wasn’t about to let the bastard get away not supporting her or beth. he was off already hooking up with another chick, he was just going to do the same thing he did to sarah to that poor girl. and beth might be his kid, but he’ll never be her dad. he doesn’t deserve to be either...so i just made sure he ended up where he belonged before he could hurt anyone else. sarah doesn’t know about the trust fund, wont until beth’s ready to go to college. im sure i’ll have to explain shit then, but for now were good.”  
cougar smirked at the blonde man a crossed from him. he was really beginning to like jensen. the hacker smirked at him before adding.  
“so yeah...that would probably be the worst thing i’ve done to someone...but i think you get the picture as to why”  
“si, he had no morals”  
“nope, not a one...soon as sarah said she was pregnant that guy was gone. she was heartbroken until she learned about what he was really into...i think that helped her to get over him and then she could focus on taking care of herself and then beth when she was born. she’s one fierce mama i’ll tell you that, i fear for beth when she starts dating...i mean of course im going to be a shithead to them, but sarah...she’s special all on her own when it comes to her baby girl.”  
chuckling the sniper said.  
“it is a mothers job to protect her child.”  
“yeah...its funny though...we were always on our own. no parents to speak of. so its not like she could learn to be a great mom from ours...it kinda amazes me how she just stepped up and was a better mom than she’d ever had. course she raised me so i guess she had most of the kinks worked out...i was not an easy kid to raise.”  
cougar chuckled.  
“si”  
jensen snorted.  
“hey, you don’t know, i might have been a perfect angel.”  
cougar snorted at him and shook his head.  
“you are horrible liar mi amigo”  
jensen huffed.  
“i am not. i’ll have you know i swindled those idiots in the barracks out of their hard earned money time and again.”  
cougar smirked at him before saying.  
“wasn’t a challenge, they are stupid”  
“very stupid...i sometimes wonder how they passed basic... i mean i know you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get in to the army and all that, but you’d think they’d be a little choosier with who they bring here ya know?”  
cougar nodded his head in agreement.  
“si”  
jensen smiled at cougar, both of them turned and looked when the door came open and pooch came in with a stack of mail. he smirked at them before pulling out a thick mailing envelope. jake yelled.  
“yes, its here”  
cougar rolled his eyes as pooch handed the energetic man his mail. the hacker tore into the package before pulling out a english/spanish dictionary. he flipped through it idly for a moment while pooch and cougar smirked at him. finally he stopped and glanced up to cougar with a glint in his eye.  
“say something spanishy”  
pooch laughed at the man’s request, cougar snorted at the blonde. jensen waited patiently, sighing cougar finally spoke up.  
“ mi amigo esto es una perdida de tiempo, nunca tendras este largo para traducir en el campo ( my friend this is a waste of time, you will never have this long to translate in the field.)”  
jensen smiled and started flipping through the book muttering under his breath.  
“perdida...perdida....how’s that spelled?”  
snorting cougar looked to the nearly crying pooch, how was folded over holding his gut in laughter. jensen didn’t seem to care though, he just kept looking through the dictionary. once he had straightened himself out a bit pooch cried out as he wiped tears away from his eyes.  
“oh god, your never going to hear the end of this kid...just wait till rogue see’s this...or clay...oh god let me go get him”  
pooch ran off, all while he laughed down the hallway, missing jensen holding up his hand to flip him off.  
“i heard that jackass....oh how to do i say jackass...”  
smirking cougar reclined on the couch and watched as jensen went from one word to another as his brain kept jumping tangents like it normally did. a few minutes later pooch pulled clay into the room.  
“watch...oh god watch.”  
clay snorted at his transport officer and watched as jensen flipped through the dictionary he had bought. clay was about to say something when jensen spoke up, speaking to himself again.  
“okay...uh....tendras...tendras....is that like tenderizing? what would you be tenderizing...did you even say a full sentence or are you just shitting with me?...crap how do you spell tenderizing in spanish?”  
clay smirked, obviously having caught onto why his team was so amused by. he looked to cougar and said.  
“you better just teach him yourself...that’s going to take years.”  
cougar shook his head.   
“fine, but if he insults people in the field because he’s ‘learning’ its on you. i better not get any reports of him calling people animales enfermos( diseased animals) like our last tech did, you got me cougar?”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders at his boss before replying.  
“estoy seguro de que va a llegar a algo peor ( im sure he will come up with something worse)”  
clay glared at him before looking to jensen as the man was now muttering under his breath.  
“how do i say knife wielding maniac....”  
clay sent an unimpressed look to cougar and pooch who were both chuckling. shaking his head he walked back down the hall to his room/office. pooch watched their co leave them before turning back around to say to jensen.  
“you know, im sure rogue knows enough spanish to know when your making fun of him”  
jensen grunted at him before muttering.  
“not making fun...stating facts”  
pooch laughed before looking to an amused cougar.  
“clay’s right, this is on you man. you better protect him from rogue cause he ain’t going to see the funny in it.”  
cougar shrugged his shoulders at the man. shaking his head he called out to them as he left down the hallway.  
“good luck”  
cougar smirked at his friend as he walked off down the hallway. turning his attention to the blonde hacker he patiently waited for him to either figure out what he had initially said, or find something of interest. he reached up and pulled his hat over his eyes and rested a while.

cougar tilted his hat back up his head when he heard distinct mutterings in spanish. looking over to jensen he raised a brow and asked.  
“que(what)?”  
jensen looked up to him with a broad smile on his face.  
“oh listen listen...i think i figured this out.”  
snorting he nodded his head to show he was listening. jensen cleared his throat before saying.  
“ las computadoras so mi perra ( computers are my bitch)”  
cougar laughed as the man stumbled through the words, but he understood what the man was trying to say all the same. once he had calmed he said   
“si”  
jensen smiled.  
“yes...i knew it...alright...now whats next”  
he started flipping through the book once more, cougar chuckled as he watched the man stick out his tongue like he often did when hacking. he glanced up when rogue bustled in and distracted him from his earlier distraction. the man took one glance to jensen pouring over a spanish dictionary and smirked. he looked to cougar and said.  
“having fun?”  
cougar smirked back and said.  
“si”  
snorting rogue put his hands on his hips and asked.  
“how much is he butchering your language?”  
jensen looked up at that to glare at the man before saying in a stuttered tone.  
“cuchillo blando maniaco ( knife wielding maniac)”  
cougar smirked when rogue tilted his head and asked.  
“what’d you say?”  
jensen smirked as he realized that rogue had no clue what he had just called him. looking to cougar he said.  
“this is fun”  
before going back to his dictionary. rogue snorted at the man before looking to cougar for an explanation the sniper shrugged at him. glaring hotly at the man he jerked a finger towards the hacker and said.  
“you better watch your boy cougar, he don’t need his tongue to be useful”  
cougar frowned at his teammate’s threat, but jensen interrupted them by saying, even while still having his head in the book.  
“you don’t need your middle name, but its still there...isn’t it scottie”  
cougar raised a brow at jensen before jerking as rogue stormed to jump over the coffee table to lunge at jensen. the hacker didn’t hesitate when he said.  
“leg up cougs”  
the sniper lifted his leg up just as jensen kicked the table right into rogue’s shin’s causing the man to fall on top of it and crash to the ground. the man growled as he pulled himself back up, but the appearance of both pooch and clay at the sudden crash stopped him from doing anything.   
“what is going on here”  
clay barked out. jensen smiled at him pleasantly before saying.  
“we were talking about middle names...rogue tripped over the table.”  
cougar looked at the hacker like he was nuts for attempting to lie to their co, but it seemed he didn’t have to worry about the hacker getting in trouble because rogue stepped straight into an unknown trap the hacker had laid out. the large man yelled out.  
“little shit was taunting me so-”  
“so you did what?”  
rogue clamped his mouth shut while sending a glare to jensen who was still smiling. clay barked.  
“rogue”  
gritting his teeth, rogue replied.  
“i went to lunge over the table to throttle the bastard and he kicked it at me.”  
clay snorted before asking.  
“is anyone hurt?”  
jensen shook his head before looking to cougar.  
“you alright?”  
cougar nodded his head.  
“si”  
jensen smirked before looking to clay and giving him a thumbs up.  
“were good”  
clay gave the hacker an unimpressed look before turning his attention to the still fuming rogue.  
“what did he say to warrant you threatening him? you don’t know much spanish, so how bad was it?”  
rogue glared at clay, but the commanding officer didn’t relent.   
“he’s embarrassed by his middle name...he was talking smack so i called him out, he didn’t like it and here we are...which by the way rogue, that’s not a bad middle name...when sarah was high on pain killers after giving birth to beth, she wanted to name the kid anna maria...yeah that was bad...luckily she changed her mind when she came down off the med’s...so see it could’ve been worse.”  
the sic glared at him, jensen smirked as if it didn’t faze him a bit. pooch and cougar were smirking at his little story, though clay still held a frown on his face.  
“rogue do we have a problem?”  
the man turned and shook his head.  
“no sir”  
nodding clay motioned for the man to leave. the large man stormed off down the hallway, slamming his bedroom door in the process. pooch sighed before saying.  
“well i guess im staying out here for a bit...no way am i walking in there.”  
jensen gave him a sorrowful look.  
“sorry dude, i shouldn’t of-”  
pooch waved him off as he sat in a chair.  
“trust me, you cant let him walk over you, you gotta fling some of his bullshit back at him if you want him to respect you.”  
clay watched them a moment longer before leaving them quietly. cougar turned back to face the group once clay had left. pooch reached over and pulled the table back to its original placement. cougar lifted his leg and set it back down, before mentioning.  
“gracias por la advertencia (thank you for the warning)”  
pooch smiled as jensen tilted his head at the sniper.  
“nope, still nothing...uh..well other than thank you?”  
“si”  
the sniper smirked at him. jensen smiled at him before flipping through the book in his lap.  
“advertencia...advertencia....what a mouthful...hmm...”  
pooch smirked before looking to the amused cougar. only a moment later jensen looked up confused.  
“warning?...oh thank you for the warning”  
cougar chuckled as the hacker pieced it together.  
“si”  
jensen motioned towards the coffee table.  
“you meant before i kicked it”  
“si”  
“well i wasn’t going to kick it with your leg there.”  
cougar nodded his head to the blonde, before letting pooch take over the conversation.  
“so how’d you find out his middle name?”  
looking to the bald man, jensen smirked.  
“i have ways...las computadoras son mi perra ( computers are my bitch)”  
pooch frowned, but it lightened upon seeing cougar chuckle at the man’s statement.  
“alright...sure, whatever you say man. so what is his middle name?”  
jensen smirked at him.  
“its scott, but i said scottie just to rile him up.”  
shaking his head pooch said.  
“you got balls kid”  
jensen smiled at him before nodding his head.  
“yeah, you learn pretty fast that if you rile em up, they get stupid. i mean if he was thinking clearly he wouldn’t have lunged like that. not with cougar sitting next to me, where he could get hurt too. then you have the fact that i could use the coffee table against him, its not an ideal weapon, but he went down hard. plus i knew the noise would attract attention, people don’t like being the center of attention...well most don’t...i don’t mind, but that’s me. i figured rogue wasn’t like that so yeah...”  
“and then you let him say shit that made him have to admit to what he did in front of clay”  
jensen nodded.  
“i mean i didn’t intend for him to do that, i just made sure that it was possible for him to make himself look like an ass if he complained.”  
pooch shook his head at the audacity of the man in front of him.  
“damn kid, you are something.”  
“thanks...you too, so i uh read in your file that you can fly choppers...that true?”  
knowing why the kid was nervous, since he wasn’t supposed to have done that, but had done so to connect him to jolene he waved the kid off and said.  
“yeah, i can fly, drive, pretty much anything you throw at me.”  
“cool...im not so good on the flying part...i mean i cant fly a chopper, i mean as a passenger...i don’t like the movement...real freaky”  
pooch looked at him like he was nuts before asking.  
“what do you do for missions? you have to fly in and out for most of them”  
jensen did a half shrug, as he’d learned what his body could tolerate since earlier.  
“well yeah, i just blare music in my ears and try to instill the thought of being on a roller coaster and not a flying mechanical bug that could crash at any moment because undoubtedly there are some people with rocket launchers intending to use said rockets like a giant fly swatter on our asses because they don’t want us there.”  
pooch laughed loudly at that, while cougar shook his head.  
“dude your way safer with the chopper than some other things, relax i don’t do any crazy maneuvers unless i have too. you’ll be fine with me.”  
jensen shook his head.  
“cant promise that, but i’ve never thrown up or anything...but one of my old teams said i went as white as a sheet...so there is that...i don’t think i’ve passed out, but i guess there’s no real way of knowing if i did unless someone told me about it...i’m sure your a good flier pooch. just don’t count on me being jumping for joy at the sight of a bird.”  
pooch chuckled and nodded.  
“fair enough, just be prepared for rogue to give you shit on that.”  
jensen sighed.  
“fine...i got plenty of more ammo to use against him...if he wants to start shit i’ll take him on...i’ve always liked the saying don’t start none wont be none.”  
pooch smirked at the hacker, he was different. deciding to change the topic at hand he asked how his translations of cougar were going. said sniper smirked. jensen sighed before saying.  
“he’s so spanishy...its hard to keep up.”  
pooch laughed at the man’s answer, while cougar rolled his eyes once more for being called ‘spanishy’. looking to cougar with a frown on his face pooch joked.  
“how dare you be spanishy cougar...slow down for the poor bastard.”  
cougar snorted at him, but pooch was already laughing because of what he’d just said. jensen was grinning as he added.  
“yeah cougar, so mean man.”  
rolling his eyes the sniper replied.  
“ustedes dos son los ibeciles, no puedo evitarlo, si no pueden seguir conmigo ( you are both morons, i can not help it, if you cant keep up with me.)”  
pooch and jensen stopped laughing only to blink at the man who was smiling smugly back at them. sighing, jensen flipped to the front of the book and muttered.  
“ustedes....ustedes...”  
pooch grinned at his friend before looking to cougar.  
“well your going to keep him occupied a while”  
looking to the blonde who was now working on another word, he nodded to pooch.   
“si”  
before the transport specialist could say anything, jensen cried out and said.  
“hey, he called us morons”  
pooch smirked at jensen who was glaring at a smirking cougar. the sniper replied factually.  
“si”  
glaring jensen waved the dictionary at him.  
“all the secrets mr. spanishy man....all of them.”  
snorting cougar leaned back and tipped his hat over his eyes as he muttered.  
“estare esperando (i’ll be waiting)”  
jensen sent another glare as he said.  
“shut up dude, im not done with the other phrase you said”  
pooch laughed at the man as he watched him get back to decoding their sniper. shaking his head, pooch grabbed the remote to the t.v. and turned it on. a glare from jensen had him putting it on mute and closed captions. the blonde nodded and went back to his work. smirking pooch wondered how long the kid would keep at it.

**********************

pooch startled awake when he heard rogue call out.  
“dinner’s ready”  
yawning he shut off the t.v. and glanced over to the couch, cougar was picking up his crutches, but jensen was still absorbed in his book. shaking his head he nudged the kids arm.  
“jensen, dinner...you can decode cougar after.”  
the man jolted and then nodded after catching up to what was going on around him. pooch smirked as the kid tucked the dictionary under his arm and got up, bringing it with him to the kitchen. jensen pulled the dictionary back out once he was seated at the table, eating with one hand while the other took a break from bracing his chest to hold the page he was reading open. clay smirked at the hacker who continued to do two things at once. rogue was still in a prissy mood from earlier, but instead of yelling at everyone had remained absolutely quiet throughout the meal. once he was done, he left. leaving pooch to do the cleaning up duties. pooch shook his head before muttering.  
“man’s got issues”  
clay smirked before saying.  
“we all do pooch.”  
pooch shrugged before commenting.  
“he’s throwing a tantrum because he doesn’t like jensen knowing his middle name...that’s a little different than normal issues clay.”  
their co chuckled a little before nodding his head.  
“if he keeps it up i’ll talk to him, just give him some space tonight.”  
pooch shrugged back at him before saying.  
“he ain’t barring me from my own room. he wants to pout fine, but im sleeping in my own bed.”  
clay smirked and nodded.  
“of course”  
nodding pooch glanced to jensen to see the man frowning, his hand halfway to his mouth as he worked through something. snorting pooch told the others.  
“he’s like a loading bar”  
the others smirked, but were stunned when jensen muttered.  
“loading bars are compiling data packets...i don’t have any of those...i was just trying to figure out how to use a proper sentence structure with these words.”  
the man took the bite that had been ‘waiting’ for him and then continued on reading his book. pooch snorted.  
“your like a computer man”  
jensen shook his head.  
“nope...limited memory, cant add more...though i have a near eidetic memory, some things are easier for me to learn than others, some things i can recall faster. just depends on what i need.”  
he took another bite as he flipped a page and began reading again. clay shook his head at the kid as he got up, he collected the dishes for pooch and put them in the sink for whenever the man decided to do them before heading back to his room. pooch glanced to cougar and asked.  
“you think spanish is going to break him”  
he gestured towards jensen with his thumb. cougar smirked at his friend and shook his head. he was sure that if jensen really did know all the languages he said he did, that he could pick up spanish just as easily. jensen finally piped into the conversation as well.  
“not likely...though i think its going to take a while for me to learn it, i have so much other stuff to do on a daily basis that i cant just devote all my time to learning it”  
jensen took the final bite of his food before chewing and swallowing. once his mouth was empty he said.  
“besides, if i screw up i have a tutor right here”  
he gestured towards cougar. the sniper rolled his eyes while pooch laughed at his predicament. jensen looked between them, not understanding what was so funny. shaking his head, cougar scooped up his crutches and directed his comment towards jensen.  
“es mejor que aprendas rapido mi amigo ( you had best learn fast my friend)”  
jensen looked at him before admitting.  
“i got friend outta that”  
snorting, cougar made his way back into the other room. he heard pooch laughing at the hacker as he settled once more on the couch. closing his eyes as he reclined once more. it wasn’t long before he opened his eyes to see jensen settling in on the other half of the couch. smirking he pulled his hat down and relaxed, listening to the small conversations jensen had with himself as he read from his dictionary.  
cougar reached up and pushed his hat back when someone nudged his shoulder. pooch was smirking at him and pointed towards the other half of the couch. he followed the pointed finger to see jensen asleep on his half of the couch, the open dictionary splayed a crossed his chest. snorting he muttered.  
“idiota”  
pooch snickered before saying.  
“i’m heading to bed man...you want me to wake him for you?”  
cougar nodded and watched as the transport specialist walked around to gently shake the blonde man. jensen startled before looking around and after catching sight of who had woken him yawned.  
“hey...whatcha need poochman?”  
snorting at the man’s new nickname for him pooch said.  
“go to bed jensen, were all heading in for the night. you can keep de-coding cougar tomorrow.”  
the blonde nodded his head, scooped up his dictionary and followed after his teammates. after changing into a pair of sweats he climbed into bed and was back asleep in moments. cougar shook his head as he settled into his own covers. before they’d settled in, pooch had warned jensen with a ‘im closing your door now’. jensen had glared at the laughing man before flipping him off. smirking at the memory, cougar closed his eyes and was soon drifting off to sleep as he wondered how long it would take jensen to give up on his de-coding mission he’d assigned himself.


	6. taking a hike through a desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for the first time since joining the loser's jensen gets to go along on a mission and try to prove himself to the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we have it folks, the start of the first mission jensen takes part in with the rest of the team.

two and a half weeks later....

cougar smirked as he cleaned his rifle, his ankle was now free of its cast and they were set to leave in an hour. jensen was babbling on and on about this or that while he packed his gear. the tech had been given the all clear after his latest check-up, though cougar did wonder if jensen had been telling the truth about that or if he had just hacked his records and changed them. he figured they’d find out sooner or later if the hacker was really ready for missions.  
“hey you ever been to libya?”  
looking up from his disassembled rifle he shook his head to the blonde.  
“heard its hotter than hell there...wonder if i should pack shorts...”  
cougar smirked as his roommate began another tangent about proper dress code in the field. he glanced up when rogue walked by and yelled.  
“get your shit together ladies, were leaving soon”  
shaking his head at their sic, he went about putting his rifle back together so he could store it in its case for travel.  
“ladies...hmph, show him ladies...see how he likes his browser history being sent to all the captains...”  
snorting cougar advised his friend.  
“not a good idea mi amigo”  
jensen smirked at him when he twisted around.  
“maybe not, but it could be funny as hell.”  
rolling his eyes, he wiped his rifle down before storing it safely in its case and zipping it up. he climbed from his bed and slung the rifle over his shoulder. picking up his go bag, he asked.  
“ready?”  
jensen nodded his head as he absent mindly checked off the things he would need. when he was done he spun back around.  
“yep, all set...lets go fry like eggs.”  
shaking his head he waited for the man to sling his packs over his shoulders before they left together. jensen no longer winced when his side was poked or prodded, he could move freely or at least it seemed that way to cougar. the bruise had changed colors, but wasn’t really fading as bruises tended to do. so long as jensen wasn’t in pain, he’d let the man do as he pleased. they walked out to the jeep, slung their gear in with their teammates and crammed into the tight quarters of the vehicle. pooch called out almost robotically.  
“i know your not seat belted jensen”  
snickering, the tech buckled himself in and said.  
“thank you mom”  
the others snorted at that, but pooch finally started the car and headed towards their drop off sight.  
they carried their gear onto the plane and secured it before taking their own seats and buckled in. jensen was jittery as he crammed some earbuds in his ears. pooch shook his head at the sight of the man. he remembered their conversation about his issues with flying. his shaking hands showed that he hadn’t been lying. cougar glanced to jensen who was seated beside him. he reached over and tapped the man’s leg before asking.  
“bien mi amigo? (alright my friend?)”  
jensen’s head jerked to look his way before he pulled out his earbud and said.  
“huh?”  
smirking cougar asked again.  
“are you alright?”  
jensen nodded his head a little too fast before saying.  
“hate flying man...not natural.”  
smirking the sniper tried to ease his friends mind.  
“listen to your music and close your eyes. you will not notice as much.”  
jensen nodded and hurriedly plugged the earbud back in before leaning back and closing his eyes tightly.   
“whats his problem?”  
rogue asked suddenly. cougar looked to the sic and said calmly.  
“he does not like flying”  
the man snorted at that.  
“sucks to be him then, this is one long ass flight.”  
cougar glared at the man before leaning back and tucking his hat down over his eyes as he was prone to doing. he vaguely heard pooch tell rogue to not be an ass, but the resulting conversation was cut off before it could get heated by clay.  
“go to sleep, when we get there we have to move fast. this is your only chance for rest for a while.”  
the men broke apart at their commanding officers orders. glaring at each other a moment before settling into their normal routines for long flights.

they all jerked awake when the plane jerked violently. jensen however was the most freaked out by the sudden turbulence. he cried out in fear before his hands grasped the seat tightly, he looked around before trying to slow his breathing. rogue snorted at the man’s response, but was prevented from saying anything by pooch elbowing him in the ribs. he glared at the man, but pooch shook his head. snorting he tried to go back to sleep, he was tired of all of them babying the hacker. he needed to grow a tougher skin if he was going to make it.  
cougar reached out and put his hand on the hackers arm, jensen tensed before his gaze settled on the sniper. jensen looked down when he suddenly realized he was grasping cougar’s knee tightly. he let go instantly before rambling off an apology. the sniper shook his head.  
“it is fine, are you okay?”  
jensen nodded his head frantically before swallowing.  
“hate this”  
nodding his head cougar tried to ease his fears.  
“only turbulence mi amigo”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“right...right...just a change in air pressure, or wind direction, or-”  
“jensen, chill man. were fine try to go back to sleep okay?”  
the hacker glanced to pooch and nodded swiftly again.  
“yeah...sure...yeah sleep is good....sleep is my friend..”  
pooch smiled at him as he watched jensen re-orientate his earphones before leaning back and closing his eyes again. pooch shared a look with cougar who sighed. hopefully they wouldn’t encounter any more turbulence, or if they did, it wouldn’t be enough to wake the twitchy hacker. settling back into his seat, cougar tucked his hat back down and tried to return to sleep.

**************

by the time they landed in libya, the entire group was strung out. not because of jensen though, the turbulence kept waking all of them up, though the blonde hacker was probably worse off then the rest of them as he hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after the third time it happened. he was very thankful when they landed. once they collected their gear, they departed the plane and took off towards their destination. pooch acquired then a suv to use and after loading up, they were soon headed out into the dessert. it was just as jensen said. hotter than hell. 114 degree’s in the shade. they were all sweating bullets by the time they piled into the car. no one dared comment on the fact that there was no ac. luxuries were few and far between when on missions, so they settled in for the long drive to where they’d make camp.  
they traded off as they drove, giving each other a break from either the monotony of sitting in a hot car with nothing to do, or in pooch’s case, driving forwards with nothing in particular to focus on. the transport specialist was driving again when cougar looked over upon registering a sudden pressure on him. he smirked when he saw jensen had fallen asleep and shifted to lean against him. shaking his head, he left the hacker to sleep if he could in the heat. it was by no mean’s comfortable, but if he could manage it, more power to him.  
it was shortly after he discovered jensen using him as a pillow that rogue spoke up.  
“aren’t you going to shove him off of you?”  
cougar glanced to the sic and shook his head.  
“he is fine”  
rogue scoffed at that.  
“its hotter than the devils ass man, why would you want more heat on you?”  
cougar smirked at the man’s reference to the heat, before saying.  
“he did not sleep on the plane.”  
“that’s on him not you.”  
shaking his head at the man, he couldn’t explain it to someone like rogue who didn’t understand simple things like consideration for others. if it wasn’t a life or death situation, the man was more prone to looking out for himself above everyone else. cougar was only thankful that when it came down to it, he would defend them when called upon to do so. rogue snorted when the man didn’t reply to him, turning to lean forward and ask clay who was sitting in the passenger seat.  
“how much farther?”  
clay had a map sprawled out a crossed his lap, that he was using to track their progress and keep them on course.  
“we got another two hours at least...once we ditch the car we’ve got a twenty mile hike to where we’ll be making camp.”  
“were going to need to stay hydrated if were going to manage that”  
clay nodded from the front seat.  
“i know, our path takes us along side a creek. its not large, but it should help bolster our water supply. we can manage with what we brought, but it would be risky to do so. once camp is set up, were going to collect some extra water.”  
rogue nodded his head as he sat back against his seat. he grimaced at the sticky sweat plastering his shirt to his back. it was very uncomfortable, but there was nothing for it. he glanced over to cougar, to see the man tucked under his hat. the hacker still leaning against him, using him as a pillow. shaking his head he settled in for the rest of the ride.  
pooch was managing to hold out the rest of the drive, not wanting to bother anyone else for the task. occasionally he’d glance into the back seat to check on his team. cougar was possibly asleep beneath his hat, one never could tell with him. jensen was out cold, leaning on the sniper. smirking at the sight pooch trailed his eyes over to rogue who was glaring out the window. he glanced to clay to see the man pouring over their map once more. only a little further until they’d have to ditch the car and hike the rest of the way to their predetermined camping site.  
forty five minutes later, their suv rolled to a stop and pooch called out.  
“were here”  
rogue was out the door before he’d finished speaking, clay soon after the sic. cougar tipped his hat back before nudging the hacker beside him to awareness. jensen jolted before smiling sheepishly to the sniper.  
“sorry, you should have shoved me over.”  
cougar shook his head before saying.  
“were here”  
“oh..okay...still you could have shoved me over”  
the sniper smirked at him as he climbed out of the suv. the hacker following right behind him. jensen looked around and whistled.  
“where the fuck are we?”  
the others smirked at the hackers question, but rogue beat anyone else to answering him.  
“the devils ass crack, come get your shit”  
jensen chuckled at the sic’s joke. he hoisted up his gear before following in line as they began the long journey towards their campsite. as they walked further and further from the car, clay called out.  
“stay hydrated, its not going to get any better the longer were out here. we’ll have coverage at the camp sight, but until then we got twenty miles of dessert sun beating down on us.”  
jensen smirked at his friends before telling their co.  
“i always wanted a tan”  
the others chuckled at that, though clay added on.  
“well if you were going to get one, it’d be here...though you might end up more red than tan jensen”  
the hacker snorted.  
“yeah tell me about it...i’m gonna look like a lobster after this hike.”  
pooch snorted at him.  
“were all covered in some high spectrum sunscreen. you might not turn into a lobster...maybe a craw fish?”  
jensen laughed at his friend.  
“oh yeah....baby lobsters....not the same at all”  
snorting pooch replied.  
“they aren’t baby lobsters jensen”  
“they look like em”  
rolling his eyes pooch said.  
“dude, they are not baby lobsters”  
“will you two shut the fuck up, who gives a crap about lobsters?”  
it was silent for all of a minute before jensen piped up to rogue’s shout.  
“i like lobsters...they’re neat. did you know they can be blue instead of just red”  
rogue twisted to glare at the hacker.  
“i can make you blue too, so shut up”  
jensen smirked at the sic before leaning over to whisper to cougar as they walked.  
“deberia comporarle una langosta, no? ( i should buy him a lobster)”  
cougar snorted at him before replying.  
“lo comeria delante de ti ( he would eat it in front of you)”  
jensen pouted at him before saying.  
“he would wouldn’t he...how mean.”  
rogue sent them a glare, but didn’t comment on their hushed conversation. cougar shook his head at the hacker as they continued to trudge through the dessert.  
they were stopped for a brief moment for everyone to drink some water, clay wanted to make sure his team wasn’t getting dehydrated by their long hike under the sun. they still had another ten miles to go, but so far the team was doing well. they were all sweating fiercely, but no one was lagging behind, and besides a few arguments because of jensen’s need to talk, nothing had happened to make the hike worse than it already was. when everyone had finished drinking and was ready to continue, clay started them up again. as they walked jensen commented.  
“so are we going to have to use those water tablets?”  
pooch snorted at him.  
“if you don’t want to die from bacteria, yeah”  
jensen rolled his eyes.  
“technically speaking, if the water is going through a natural filtration system, we wouldn’t need them.”  
“you let us know how that goes for you”  
rogue muttered. jensen smirked at the sic before stating.  
“you don’t always have fancy tablets with you when the shit hits the fan, i’ve drank plenty of questionable water sources...its better than dying from thirst...besides they can treat most everything once you get back home.”  
rogue snorted before saying.  
“you have to get back home first dumb ass. if what ever you drank kills you on the way there, it ain’t going to do you much good now is it.”  
jensen rolled his eyes before stating.  
“the likely hood of a contaminant killing you that fast is like one in a million dude. it would have to be something really nasty to kill you that fast...most emergency evac’s happen within forty eight hours. that’s plenty of time to haul your ass home for treatment.”  
the rest of the group listened idly as jensen and rogue went back and forth. it was clear that jensen was making a logical case for his tablet theory, but rogue wouldn’t give into the man’s intellect and continued to argue back. five miles went by as the two bantered back and forth and before they knew it they were taking another break. jensen smirked at rogue when the man seemed surprised at how far they’d walked. the blonde stated.  
“your welcome”  
rogue sneered at him  
“why the fuck should i thank you? you haven’t done anything?”  
the hacker laughed before explaining.  
“i kept your mind occupied while we hiked, you didn’t even realize how uncomfortable you were or how far we’d traveled. thus preventing you from complaining and threatening us with bodily harm because your irritable. so your welcome.”  
the others chuckled at the look rogue gave the hacker as jensen took a drink of water. clay shook his head at the man before telling rogue to drink some water. the sic did so, but continued to glare at the hacker. when they were about to start walking once more, rogue said.  
“you fuck with my head again, i gut you”  
“ah there we go...rogue’s back”  
the other’s chuckled and then laughed when jensen dodged rogue’s fist as it came for the back of his head. jensen smiled at them as they walked on, occasionally commenting on the scenery around them, which was seriously lacking according to the blonde.  
“i mean...we don’t even get to stare at cactus? that’s pretty lame...i like cactus..oh sorry cacti...they’re all prickly...hey kinda like you rogue”  
the hacker smirked when rogue flipped him off, before continuing.  
“anyways as i was saying, you can actually find useful things to do with cacti, their’s water inside them and there’s the fleshy bits inside, they call it meat, but come on that is anything but meat. anyways, you can eat that too, so technically a cactus or cacti if there are more than one and there normally is, can keep you alive.”  
pooch shook his head at his friend before asking.  
“where the hell do you read all this shit?”  
the others murmured their agreement with pooch’s question. jensen shrugged before saying.  
“i get bored...i google things.”  
shaking his head pooch asked.  
“you googled cactus?”  
“cacti”  
snorting pooch said.  
“whatever, why google that?”  
“well technically i didn’t for that, i learned it from a survival training course i took in high school. why we were covering cacti in that class i will never know, i mean how many desserts with cacti have you seen in new hampshire?”  
pooch wasn’t the only one to laugh at that rhetorical question. the group continued on through the dessert, allowing jensen to fill the void, the group chiming in when needed. a while later as they grew closer to a rocky outcropping clay called out.  
“were almost there”  
“is this where we get to say land hoe?”  
clay smirked at jensen, while pooch and cougar shook their heads at the man. true to form, they made their way past the rocky outcropping and were soon entering a small rocky grove, a few sparse tree’s around, nothing to give adequate cover from the sun, but it was enough to make their gear and camp look not a suspicious. the group dropped their gear with a considerable sigh at being relieved of their burdens.  
“alright, pooch and cougar you two set up the tents...jensen, set up our comm’s and other electronics for this operation. me and rogue will go deal with the water situation.”  
the group broke into their smaller groups and started in on their assigned tasks. jensen seated himself on a rock and started pulling out a multitude of different equipment, all while chatting away as pooch and cougar set up the team’s tents.  
“ imagine the crappy cell service out here...makes you wonder how these idiots are doing business ya know? i mean unless they have satellite phones, i don’t see them being smart enough to have the proper setup for this.”  
pooch snorted as he held a pole for cougar to secure. commenting to the man.  
“dude, since when have the douche bags of the world worried about satellite phones? they find ways of doing business and then were called in to clean the shit storm they cause.”  
“true...true, but i just wonder is there like some underground phone company for evil doers...what would they call it? think of all the surcharges and maintenance fee’s not to mention installation, sending a tech this far out would cost a fortune...not to mention internet hook up’s and all that...oh man that would really suck.”  
pooch looked to cougar who was smirking as the man rambled, the mechanic muttered.  
“this is what he worries about?”  
“si”  
shaking his head, the two finished one tent before moving onto another. jensen had moved on from his evil phone company plot, to more realistic concerns.  
“so do you think they have to worry about snakes and shit here? i mean can you imagine getting up to go take a piss in your own evil hideout and then getting bit in your own damn house? what kind of snakes live here anyways? i’ll have to google that...do we have anti-venom? is that something we have to request because if so that is really shitty of the military, i mean who plans to get bit by a snake right? should be included in our med kits...though there are hundred’s of species of snakes...that would be a lot of anti-venom to have to carry...i think the snakes are up to something man...plotting, they couldn’t all just agree to have the same venom, no they had to go and be special didn’t they-”  
pooch looked up to cougar who was silently laughing as he hammered a stake into the ground.  
“seriously? what the fuck is he talking about?”  
cougar shook his head before muttering to pooch.  
“esta loco mi amigo no le importa ( he is crazy my friend, don’t mind him)”  
pooch snorted at him before glancing over to where jensen was typing away on one of his laptops, doing something or other. frowning he called out.  
“you better not be googling snakes dude.”  
cougar chuckled before glancing over to the hacker who yelled back.  
“i have that on a background search thank you very much, im doing three things at once here poochman, snakes is number three.”  
shaking his head, the sniper nudged pooch back into action so that they could finish the tent. the transport officer was shaking his head.  
“totally crazy that one”  
“si”  
it was quiet a moment before jensen shouted over.  
“i heard that”  
the two of them smirked to each other.  
when clay and rogue returned, two large barrels full of water in tow, the camp looked more like a camp. the tent’s were up and jensen was typing away, their comm’s already laid out on a nearby rock.  
“were all set boss”  
clay nodded his head before asking.  
“what are you doing? checking intel?”  
jensen looked up from the laptop screen before glancing to send a glare to pooch who was laughing.  
“jensen”  
looking back to clay he responded.  
“works all done boss, i got some background searches going to make sure nothings changed since we got here, but other than that its all taken care of.”  
nodding his head clay dared to ask.  
“and why is pooch so amused by this?”  
sighing the blonde hacker said.  
“they’ve been poking fun at me because i started googling some things i was curious about...see if i share about which snake your most likely to die from here jackass’s”  
clay shook his head as jensen’s attention went towards pooch and cougar. the sniper was shaking his head as he double checked to make sure his rifle was ready for tomorrow. pooch was just reclined against a rock laughing at the hacker. leaving his team to sort themselves out, he double checked their water barrels, before moving over to his gear. he hoisted it on his shoulder before finding his own tent to store it in. once inside he went over the mission debrief papers one last time.

*********************

the group settled in for a mostly peaceful night, as the sun started to set, the temperature began to plummet. they put together a small fire, just big enough to offer some light and warmth, not enough to produce noticeable amounts of smoke that would give away their presence. once the food was handed out and they had eaten their fill, clay took charge.  
“alright losers, here’s whats going to happen tomorrow. cougar’s going to find a suitable vantage point to be able to cover the majority of the compound. jensen’s going to hack into their security feed’s and try and estimate what were dealing with and find any patterns he can for the security detail around the place. rogue, pooch and i are going to scout out the immediate area for the best evac points if something goes wrong. we need multiple exits for any scenario that might happen. once this is all taken care of, we’ll move onto phase two.”  
the group nodded to their leader.  
“good any questions?”  
the men shook their head before jensen raised his hand like a school kid. clay snorted and said.  
“yes jensen?”  
“uh, can part of our plan be throwing venomous snakes in their barracks...cause that seems like a cool idea...and according to google we shouldn’t have any problem finding snakes.”  
he gave a pointed look to pooch who was shaking his head. clay rolled his eyes at his tech before saying.  
“no, you cant do that, i shouldn’t even have to say this, but i will just for safety sake. you are not to play with snakes.”  
the others laughed as their co being forced to tell the tech not to play with venomous creatures. rogue dared to ask the blonde.  
“any other great idea’s?”  
jensen glanced to rogue and nodded.  
“oh yeah. tons...but none as good as the snakes...i even found where you can order them, but i don’t think we can wait for two day delivery and i don’t know of anyone who would deliver to this place”  
he made a show of gesturing to their camp. the large black man shook his head before looking to clay.  
“i think the sun fried his brain”  
clay smirked, but was prevented from saying anything by jensen saying.  
“it couldn’t have done that smart ass, my brains in my skull. if it was on the ground i’d say yes, yes it could. but it cant cause i still have it in here...so there”  
he said tapping at his head. rogue lifted a brow at the kid before shaking his head.  
“whatever, just don’t fuck up this mission. if i have to save your ass, im going to be handing it to you once were in the clear. got it?”  
jensen pouted, but nodded his head. rogue sighed before telling clay.  
“i’m going to bed, good luck with this lot”  
he gestured towards his teammates, before climbing to his feet and heading to his tent. pooch glared at rogue as he passed before commenting to their sic.  
“your a part of this lot you know”  
rogue snorted as he climbed into his tent as he muttered back.  
“don’t remind me”  
shaking his head pooch turned back around to face the others just in time for jensen to say.  
“we should have brought marshmallows”  
he smirked at the hacker before saying.  
“next time”  
jensen nodded his head like it was a fully doable request. chuckling pooch glanced to clay to see the man smirking at them. for a commanding officer, clay wasn’t as uptight as the others. he still could joke around with them from time to time. he was all business when he needed to be, but he knew when to take it easy and have some fun. cougar stretched before rising from his spot by the fire. he called out to them as he walked towards his tent.  
“buenas noches (good night)”  
jensen didn’t miss a beat as he said back.  
“night”  
the kid’s spanish had improved so fast over the last two weeks that they had been shocked, when after a few days of stuttering through words and trying to figure out how to use them properly, jensen woke up one day and just started speaking in full sentences to cougar. the sniper had been pleased by it and the two occasionally had full conversations in spanish. jensen’s spanish only getting stronger with each day. the kid had admitted to literally reading the entire dictionary, word for word. it was one of the reasons why he could just formulate whatever he wanted to say now to cougar without having to look any words up. he already knew most of them.  
it wasn’t long before clay himself retired, instructing jensen not to stay up as he had last watch. the hacker had nodded his head and given a salute to the man. clay rolled his eyes as he made his way to his tent. pooch smirked at his friend before backing up their co.  
“you should get to bed dude, its going to be a long day tomorrow.”  
“yeah, i guess so...still think we could work snakes into our plan though”  
snorting pooch said.  
“go to bed jensen”  
smirking the blonde climbed to his feet and made his way to the tent he was sharing with cougar. he climbed in and got himself situated into the sleeping bag. it was considerably warmer than outside, with it being a dessert the temperature could plummet drastically compared to the daytime temperatures. he snuggled down and sighed as he started to warm up from the brief trek away from the warmth of the fire.

*****************

just after sunrise, the group of soldiers were beginning to stir out of their tents for the first time that morning. they found jensen typing away before the smoldering embers of their camp fire. he had been last on watch duty and had apparently taken that time to do some work in preparation for their mission. he gave a wave to them before going back to his work.  
“all’s good boss man, not a sketchy soul out here”  
clay smirked at his corporal’s findings. breakfast was made quickly and efficiently. after they were done, did clay re-affirm what everyone’s duties were, once that was taken care of, the group headed out to complete their assigned tasks. the group left jensen at camp, seeing as all of his tasks revolved around his computer. cougar hoisted his rifle case over his shoulder before following after the others to go in search of a vantage point. he smirked when jensen called out.  
“make sure you can get a good aim on their ass’s cougs”  
the others looked at him strangely, but the sniper shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know what the man was talking about. rogue snorted before commenting as they walked.  
“he’s got a few screws loose man...if this doesn’t go to shit-”  
“we’ll be fine, jensen wont jeopardize the mission, alright cougar go scout out your vantage point, pooch go west, rogue south. i’ll go east, we’ll reconvene here in two hours. don’t be late.”  
the group nodded and dispersed to do their assigned tasks before their time was up.   
jensen whistled under his breath as he hacked into the security feed’s. it’d be child’s play to make them show empty hallways tomorrow when the real mission began. after doing another walk through of the building’s schematics and being assured that nothing had changed, he moved onto the gate codes, the plan so far was for the team to just scale a wall, that was all good and dandy, but he liked knowing another easier way out in case something happened. he knew from experience that climbing a wall after being shot was not as easy as it should be. he smirked as he found the proper codes to the doors.  
“idiots...who makes their password 1111 anymore? that’s like asking for someone to just waltz on in...well i guess they’re going to get their wish.”  
smirking he continued to hack into random parts of the building to see what all was going on, he started a tally on a piece of paper to figure out how many people might be inside. they wouldn’t have an accurate count, but it was better than going in completely blind. he laughed as he caught some of the ‘security’ in compromising situations. he’d save that to tell the team later. a security feed got him a glimpse of the warehouse attached to the main compound and he tilted his head. leaning forward to squint as he tried to read the writing on the boxes he could see inside it.  
“oh-oh shit man....not good....okay...lets see...one....five...fifteen...who the fuck needs fifteen crates of that shit? compensating much? well i guess we know what their really trafficking now.”  
he wrote some stuff down on his pad of paper for when the others returned before closing out his programs. there wasn’t anything more for him to do, so he opened up a new game and started battling it out with a kid in india. he smirked as the kid placed his first word.  
“uh huh, your going down...gonna make your parents weep for sending you to college...english major my ass.”  
when clay and the others came back into camp they halted upon seeing a gun leveled at them. jensen smirked before putting down his gun.  
“heya, how was your hike?”  
clay raised a brow at the blonde before asking.  
“any problems?”  
the hacker shook his head.  
“nope no problems...just cant be so sure, might not have been you coming back to this fine campsite we have here...so you all finished?”  
the group nodded as they filtered into camp. once everyone was seated did the hacker shut his laptop to give his full attention to their co as he started talking.  
“cougar’s all set, there’s only two exit’s that are viable for us if something happens. so if something happen’s tomorrow, don’t run east, you’ll only find a huge ravine with no way a crossed. “  
the group nodded to their commanding officer, a moment later clay turned to jensen and asked for an update on his own tasks.  
“okay so yeah, security feeds are a cake walk, no one’s going to know when we go in, or where we are. so long as no one physically makes us, were good. i got the codes for the doors and gates, just in case we really have to high tail it outta there. you’d think they’d be smart enough not to use all one number as their master security code, but noooo not their priority apparently.”  
the others snorted in amusement, before clay called the man back to attention. jensen nodded his head before adding.  
“so i wrote down an estimate on their security force, from what i could see there’s at least twenty, only half looked to be armed though. there’s plenty of other people milling about in there too, i wouldn’t expect them to be armed, but you never know. on top of that, while i was hacking away i got a glimpse into their warehouse.”  
he looked at clay and with a straight face said.  
“that catches fire, run like hell man...there’s explosives and gunpowder and a whole bunch of other flammable shit in there. it goes up, its going fast. on top of that, i think i found what their trafficking...its not people dude. look’s like they got themselves quite the racket, drugs are all the rage these days.”  
clay frowned before asking.  
“what kind?”  
the tech smirked before saying.  
“dude i saw cocaine, meth..you name it they probably got some in there. there was also huge crates along side the drugs...now of course i don’t think that what their labeled with is what’s actually in there...why would drug peddlers need that many vacuum’s?”  
the group chuckled at the hacker, clay smirked.  
“what do you thinks in them?”  
jensen looked to pooch and shrugged his shoulder.  
“could be more drugs, could be weapons...who knows. whatever it is, i don’t think its house hold appliances man. the fact that they put all that flammable shit around their drugs-”  
“they want to be able to cut and run”  
rogue said. jensen nodded his head and said.  
“ding ding ding...tell the man what he’s won johnny...there were a few beefed up dudes in there, packing some serious heat man. right up your alley rogue”  
the man snorted at him, jensen smirked before turning back to clay and saying.  
“i don’t know where the brass got the idea that they were trafficking humans, but i didn’t see evidence one of anything like that.”  
clay nodded his head before saying.  
“good work jensen, alright losers. we go in nice and early tomorrow, sun wont be up yet to give us some cover as we move in. jensen’s going to break into their little office and get as much info as he can on their little operation. pooch is on standby, ready to create a diversion if we need it. me and rogue will check out the warehouse and see if we cant take out the ringleader. cougar’s going to keep an eye on everyone from his perch, he wont be able to track me or rogue once we enter the warehouse, but jensen and pooch you’ll be able to keep eyes on. once jensen’s out, we blow the warehouse and run. we’ll meet back here, lay low for a day or two and get our evac back to the states. we clear?”  
the others nodded their heads to him.  
“good, make sure you gears ready to go, stay hydrated, eat, and get some rest. tomorrow could be hectic.”  
the group split up to take care of their gear. jensen went back to playing words with friends, he glanced over when cougar sat down beside him and started maintaining his rifle. the hacker smirked before looking back to play another word to raise his already high score some more.  
“get a good spot?”  
“si”  
“if the shit hits the fan, i expect to see someone grabbing their ass as they run in terror, just saying.”  
cougar glanced up from his rifle to smirk at the blonde. jensen smiled, but never took his eyes off of his laptop. shaking his head cougar returned to wiping down his rifle.  
“remember your gun amigo”  
the blonde huffed before saying.  
“come on, i told you that in confidence.”  
the sniper gave him a look, the blonde sighed and nodded.  
“yeah yeah, i’ll remember my gun...don’t see why i need it, your going to be watching right?”  
“si, but i cannot always get a clear shot”  
jensen shrugged his shoulders before saying.  
“im pretty sure you could tag someone who’s chasing after me, i mean i kinda stick out dude”  
he pulled at his bright blue shirt he was wearing. cougar smirked at him.  
“si, you stick out.”  
jensen nodded his head before glaring at his screen.  
“that was a lame ass word kid...not like you can recoup though, im already two hundred points ahead of you, feel sorry for your parents.”  
cougar grinned as jensen ‘talked’ to his opponent. once cougar was done with his rifle, he stored it away. leaning back he tucked his hat over his eyes and muttered to the blonde.  
“solo tu mi amigo pelearia contra un nino con palabras mientras en medio de un postre ( only you my friend would fight a child with words while in the middle of a dessert)”  
jensen snorted before saying back.  
“bien alguien tiene demasiado ( well someone has too)”  
cougar smirked at the man’s reply, relaxing against the rock he was leaning on. he listened absently as his friend talked out loud, making fun of the kid he was playing against, even though the kid couldn’t hear him.  
it had been pooch’s turn to cook, though there wasn’t really much cooking involved when it came to mre’s. they traded bits and pieces around to each other. jensen handing over the jerky in his to cougar, because he knew the man could save it for tomorrow while he was stuck watching over them. cougar gave jensen the candy that came in his, because he knew that the hacker had a sweet tooth a mile long. pooch ended up tossing his bread to rogue, their sic, traded it for his beverage packet as pooch would get more use out of the packet then rogue who was fine with just water.   
the meal was a silent affair as there wasn’t much worth talking about. they’d already gone over the mission details one more time before dinner was passed out, once that was in order. they ate in silence. jensen helped clean up the mess from the packaging the mre’s came in. once everything was put back in order, he returned to his seat beside cougar and booted up his laptop again. once it was properly balanced on his knee’s he nudged cougar to get the man’s attention while typing. the sniper was used to the blonde using his elbows, knee’s or sometimes his feet to get his attention so he could keep his fingers moving a crossed his keyboard. leaning over he took a look at whatever the man was doing. he glanced to jensen when he didn’t see anything worth watching.  
“and...watch”  
looking back to the screen cougar tilted his head before smirking. a camera feed came up in the middle of the screen, a lone security guard playing with his baton, twirling it this way and that. most likely trying to look bad ass or pretending to be a ninja as was jensen’s claim.  
“wait for it...pow”  
cougar snorted when the security guard bashed his own head with the weapon before stumbling back into a wall. shaking his head the sniper muttered.  
“el es un idiota (he is an idiot)”  
jensen smirked before saying chipperly.  
“totally not awesome”  
the sniper rolled his eyes, even after figuring out what cougar had been calling him, the hacker continued to use the word incorrectly. cougar knew it wasn’t because jensen was stupid, no the man had proved time and again that he was freakishly smart, jensen just liked having his own way to do things. mis-using a word was one way for him to do that.   
“watch this one”  
the hacker started typing again to pull up another recording, he was nearly done when pooch asked what they were doing.  
“come here, im showing cougs some of the footage i got from the building...i might have caught some of their security guards being dumbass’s.”  
pooch grinned and jogged over to sit on the other side of the hacker. not a minute later the hacker pulled up another feed. two security guards were talking back and forth, there was no sound though so they couldn’t understand what they were saying to one another.  
“okay?”  
pooch said skeptically, jensen sighed.  
“dude, be patient...and action”  
cougar and pooch chuckled when the two doors behind the one security guard burst open as a man with a cart came through, the door slammed into the guard and felled him in a single blow. the man with the cart started waving his hands around as the other still standing guard started yelling and pointing.   
“i like how no one bothers to help the poor bastard.”  
pooch nodded his head.  
“yeah, he’s out cold and their arguing over whose fault it was.”  
“si”  
jensen smirked before saying.  
“if this is what were up against, i think we’ll be fine.”  
the two soldiers nodded their heads at that. they watched as jensen went back to typing, the video going away as he started to call up something else. a camera feed popped up and the kid pointed to something.  
“thought i’d show you this cougs, something happens you could always shoot that...chain reaction man, they are beautiful.”  
they followed his finger to see a support holding up a rickety shelf with can’s on it. directly below the can’s was a console for a pair of doors.  
“you hit that, those go down and that console lights up like a Christmas tree. those doors will open, we need too theirs vehicles in there.”  
his teammates grinned at him.  
“another way out”  
jensen nodded his head before telling pooch.  
“oh and the codes to most of the doors and gates is 1111.”  
pooch looked at him like he was crazy.  
“im serious, i didn’t believe it either alright? but it is what it is...i can always change it when we leave too, just to fuck with them.”  
pooch laughed before shaking his head as he clapped the hacker on the back.  
“lock them out of their own operation after we torch the place, that’s pretty mean man.”  
jensen grinned at his friend before saying.  
“hey you think that’s bad, cougs is going to shoot someone in the ass.”  
pooch laughed before leaning over to look at the sniper for a confirmation on that. the sniper shook his head. jensen pouted.  
“oh come on, it’d be great...poor bastard would have to go somewhere to get it dug out of him, think of how embarrassing that would be...yes evil overlord, i need to go to the hospital...yeah i got shot...in the ass sir.”  
the blonde cracked up at that, pooch shook his head before leaning over and telling the sniper.  
“better keep an eye on him man, no telling what he’s going to get himself into.”  
the sniper nodded his head.  
“si”  
“hey now, i can look after myself...i just want to see it though...or do it where a camera is, then i can record it....oooh that would be better. where’s a good camera for that”  
the hacker started typing again, blatantly ignoring his teammates who were shaking their heads at him. pooch leaned over to grab up his canteen and took a swig, it wasn’t as hot as it had been yesterday, but there was no telling what tomorrow would bring. he passed it to cougar as jensen was still typing away. the sniper took a good pull from the canteen before nudging jensen. the man grunted before continuing in his train of typing. rolling his eyes cougar said.  
“tiempo para el agua ( time for water)”  
jensen nodded his head to show he had heard him, but continued to type. scowling at his friend, the sniper was about to reach for the laptop when the hacker stopped his typing to look up at him suddenly.  
“huh...oh right water...”  
he took the canteen and drank some while pooch and cougar looked on amused. when he was done he passed it back to cougar before going back to his typing. cougar handed it to pooch and thanked him. pooch shook his head as he got up.  
“yeah, keep an eye on that one.”  
cougar grinned as pooch walked off, leaning back he tilted his hat down over his eyes and listened to the tapping of the key’s.


	7. where there is trouble there is jensen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the mission is a go, the losers invade the enemies camp and spread out to do their jobs. too bad for them that nothing really ever goes to plan with them. jensen manages to land himself into some trouble and its only with the help of his new team that the hacker gets out of a tough spot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is in all its juicy details. the invasion of the enemies base and jensen and the team being badass's. hope you enjoy this installment.

even though the drastic temperature change was annoying and sometimes downright uncomfortable, they were all glad when the sun began to set and the temperature that had been hovering in the 110 degree range began to lower. jensen passed out their meal’s that night, for once taking a long enough break from his laptop to be aware of the inner workings of the camp. just like at lunch people traded things around until everyone was happy with what they were steadily munching on. he was typing with one hand as he ate what was supposed to be a burrito. jensen pulled a face before looking down at the food in his hand that he had just taken a bite of. he chewed, swallowed and then muttered.  
“this is not a burrito”  
the others snickered at him, everyone was used to the unique flavors of the mre meals they were given for missions, but it was still shocking what sometimes was passed off as food. jensen shook his head as he ate the fake burrito, returning his attention to his laptop as he forced himself to eat the disgusting concoction. the group chuckled as they watched jensen chug some water to remove the taste from his mouth.  
“slow down or you’ll get sick”  
clay admonished the hacker. jensen stopped drinking as his co commanded, wiping his mouth on his sleeve before commenting.  
“im not sure if it would taste worse going down or coming up to be honest.”  
clay shook his head before saying.  
“regardless of its taste, you need the calories, were going to be up early and wont have a chance to eat until were done. getting sick now would only make tomorrow harder.”  
jensen nodded his head to his boss, before looking down when a pinging noise sounded from his laptop.  
“whats that?”  
pooch asked from a crossed the campfire. jensen tilted his head before saying.  
“it one of my programs...huh oh okay...i set it up to monitor our druggy friends over yonder...looks like their getting ready to ship some stuff out in the next couple days...sucks for them that its not going to work out.”  
chuckling pooch asked.  
“anything we should worry about?”  
jensen looked up to make eye contact before shaking his head.  
“nope, its just a shipping notification, their intending to do stuff. nothing’s happening right now and chances are nothings going to be different tomorrow when we go and raid their little operation. none of their security has changed, were fine.”  
“good, keep me updated if anything else happens.”  
clay barked as he climbed to his feet, stretched and then proceeded to his tent. jensen watched him go before turning his eyes back to the laptop screen.  
“poor sad druggy bastards...no idea that all their hard earned drugs are going to go bye bye.”  
pooch and cougar chuckled at the blonde, rogue snorted before stating.  
“hard earned my ass”  
jensen glanced up and smirked.  
“true, i could probably track down where they get their supply from, but in the long scheme of things its not going to do much...us blowing their little warehouse however...now that’s going to fuck with them.”  
rogue smirked back at him as he said.  
“that the best you can do kid? thought you were something special, the brass could track down their supplier.”  
pooch and cougar sent frown’s rogue’s way, but jensen just smirked back at him.  
“alright my cuchillo apretando amigo ( knife wielding friend), watch and learn.”  
rogue snorted, not even bothering to be riled by whatever jensen had just called him. he was far too used to the blonde making up nicknames for them all. they all watched as jensen started typing away. pooch dared to tell rogue.  
“well you’ve done it now...lord knows what he’s going to do.”  
rogue rolled his eyes at the man before saying.  
“how much damage could he possible do to a bunch of drug peddlers? he doesn’t even know who they are”  
they all turned to look at jensen as the blonde said.  
“actually i know the top three dude’s names...one of them is wanted in like ten countries...jeez this guy needs a hobby, okay lets see here...”  
pooch grinned at jensen before smirking at rogue and saying.  
“you were saying”  
snorting rogue countered.  
“fine, he found out the top three idiots in charge of this warehouse-”  
“nope”  
they all turned to jensen who then said.  
“top three behind the warehouse...they wont actually be there, these are just a bunch of brainless monkey’s they’re paying to do this stuff for them...the top three are actually safely ensconced in their private mansions...one of them is in peru right now. do you want to see his tax receipts cause i can get those for you”  
rogue glared at the kid, who was actually waiting for a response. pooch was laughing loudly at what had just transpired. cougar nudged jensen to take his attention off of the rapidly irritated rogue. the blonde turned to the sniper and asked.  
“yeah?”  
“what can you do?”  
the hacker smirked at him and said.  
“what cant i do cougs? you should really be asking what shouldn’t i do, cause really, i could do a lot to these assholes.”  
shaking his head the sniper replied.  
“if you mess with them, they may grow suspicious and contact the men here”  
jensen thought about it a moment before nodding his head.  
“yeah, i guess that could happen...alright, i’ll just leave a note here to fuck with them later.”  
cougar smirked at his friend as he watched the hacker literally leave himself a post it note on his laptop case to ‘fuck with drug lords’. shaking his head he turned back to the others, rogue was shaking his head at the kids antics, pooch had settled down from his laughing fit and was just watching in an amused way to what jensen was doing. pooch finally spoke up after a few minutes had passed.  
“alright, time for cards.”  
rogue nodded his head, they had a long standing tradition to play cards the night before a mission. it was a way for them to blow off steam, and just joke around. they didn’t bet money, they bet weapons. jensen looked up and frowned as he saw the other three begin pulling out a variety of weapons from their bags.  
“uh guys...were not supposed to shoot or maim anyone till tomorrow”  
cougar snorted before saying.  
“it is for cards”  
“cards?”  
the sniper nodded his head, but let pooch finish his explanation.  
“yeah, we play cards the night before an operation. we don’t bet money, we bet weapons that we’ve hoisted off of people while doing missions.”  
jensen smirked at him before saying.  
“so you guys just carry around a bunch of extra weapons just to play cards with them?”  
pooch shook his head.  
“not really, i mean you’d be surprised with what you come a crossed, we toss the junk and keep the good stuff. most of this we’ve actually used in the field.”  
nodding his head jensen watched pooch pull out a deck of cards and begin to shuffle them.  
“you got anything to bet kid?”  
rogue asked gruffly. jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah...i got a few things lying around.”  
he smirked at the sic, rogue nodded his head before taking his hand from pooch. the others took their own cards and the game began. pooch threw in a simple revolver. rogue snorted at the sight of it.  
“you still have that pea shooter”  
pooch glared at him before commenting back.  
“that pea shooter saved your ass a couple months ago jackass”  
jensen smirked as the two argued back and forth before rogue threw in a decent sized blade and called pooch’s bluff. cougar shook his head so as to not be in the hand, jensen looked down at his cards and then shook his head as well. he had nothing. rogue groaned when pooch showed his cards. he took the revolver and blade with a smirk on his face.   
“this is awesome”  
jensen said before looking at rogue skeptically and asking.  
“how many knives do you have?”  
rogue grinned at him before pooch told the hacker.  
“you don’t want to know dude, come on next hand.”  
pooch took the cards back, shuffled and handed out a new hand to everybody. pooch threw in a small knife he had, rogue rolled his eyes at the sight of the ‘wimpy’ blade before adding one of his own. cougar tilted his head before tossing in a pistol, they all looked to jensen to see what he’d do. jensen looked at his cards, what was on the makeshift table and then back to his cards before shrugging. he leaned over to pull out a knife and threw it on the table. the others blinked at him before rogue asked.  
“where the fuck did you get that?”  
looking up to the sic jensen stated.  
“uh...a mission”  
rogue snorted before lifting up the curved blade.  
“yeah where?”  
jensen shook his head before stating.  
“i think it was egypt? not really sure”  
rogue looked at him skeptically as if he thought jensen was putting a knife into the pot that he had purchased and not won off of an opponent. the blonde sighed before saying.  
“i cracked my skull, cant remember where i got it, i barely remember the fight, though im glad i don’t remember the smells cause that toothy bastard probably didn’t know what a bath was.”  
pooch laughed before hitting rogue’s arm to put the knife back into the pot. cougar smirked at his friend before raising the bet to see who would drop out, he threw in another pistol, almost identical to the other one he’d thrown in earlier. jensen looked at it before turning to ask.  
“did you leave that bastard anything? your not going to start throwing up some guys underwear are you? taking all the man’s weapons...i hope you shot the poor sod and put him out of his misery from being robbed.”  
cougar chuckled before shaking his head. the others snorted at jensen before pooch dropped out of the match. rogue stayed in though, adding another blade to the pot. jensen smirked at the sic before saying in a stable tone.  
“your bluffing...i’ll raise you”  
he leaned down and pulled out a handgun. he tossed it into the pile before waiting to see what everyone would do. rogue shook his head before saying.  
“all right, show em if you got em”  
all three of them tossed their cards down, jensen cried out in misery.  
“man, that sucks”  
cougar nodded as rogue collected his winnings with a broad smile. the group continued to play more rounds of cards, some of the previously won weapons going back up for grabs as they played. stories were swapped as they introduced new weapons and overall, it was a nice time. by the end of their games, they’d each come away with something, if not what they already had, then something new. rogue was fingering the curved blade he’d won off of jensen, the blonde smirked at him before saying.  
“you’ll get more use out of it than i ever would.”  
rogue nodded his head at the blonde before asking in surprisingly not a condescending tone.  
“you know how to use it?”  
jensen shook his head.  
“no, i mean i can remember seeing how the insurgents used it, but blades aren’t my forte...so go bananas man.”  
rogue nodded his head to the blonde. their attention drifted to pooch who was checking out the revolver he’d come away with. cougar was tucking the twin pistols he’d managed to win back from rogue into his bag. smirking at the sight of his team, jensen couldn’t hold back a yawn. the others smirked at the man, jensen colored at that before muttering.  
“not tired at all, that was a lie”  
snorting rogue told him.  
“i have first watch, your up second.. better head in kid.”  
nodding his head, jensen got up waved and then walked to the tent he shared with cougar. the sniper made sure his winning’s were properly stored before heading in after him. pooch grinned at rogue before whispering.  
“not too bad is he?”  
rogue glared at pooch, he was well aware that the rest of the team thought he was too hard on the kid. despite what they thought he didn’t hate the kid, he just didn’t know him well enough to trust him. this mission was their first together, if it went well he was sure that the kid would settle in, but if the mission fell to shit, he’d cry holy hell before letting the kid endanger him or his team. pooch sighed before getting up to go to his tent. leaving rogue to his watch of the campsite as it was obvious to the man that rogue wasn’t going to give in yet to admitting to liking the kid.

***************************

the team was up bright and early just as clay had said they would be. the sun wasn’t going to be up for another two hours, but it was perfect for them. the darkness would hide their activities as they entered the compound. gear in order, they made the trek to the compound. there was no chatter between them and surprisingly no one had to tell jensen to stay quiet, the hacker hadn’t spoken a word since they left their campsite. it was weird not hearing the man speaking about garbage, but the fact that he was cognizant of the danger around them and knew to be quiet, told the rest of his team that he could be serious when it was called for.   
as they crept closer to the compound, clay signaled for cougar to go climb up to his perch and keep an eye out. the sniper nodded his head and took off in a light jog towards the area he’d scouted to cover him while he oversaw his team’s movement. clay held them up for only a moment, probably to give cougar a head start, after a moment they started walking down the sloping rocks to the compound, they stuck close together and used the rock formations to hide themselves better even in the surrounding darkness. hunkering down below a cropping of rocks, clay whispered.  
“alright, pooch go to your lookout point and be ready for anything. we might need your help to get out, if that happens you make the biggest disturbance these drug lords have ever seen.”  
pooch grinned and nodded his head.  
“you got it, good luck”  
clay nodded and they watched as pooch took off to hide himself in a good position to be close enough to help, but well hidden in case he needed to cause some kind of diversion for the team. clay looked to rogue and jensen.  
“once were over the fence, your on your own corporal.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“no problem. just remember, warehouse is loaded with things that go boom.”  
clay smirked and nodded to the hacker. rogue glanced up over their cropping of rocks before ducking down.  
“were good to go.”  
nodding, clay lead them over to where they would climb the fence. the co went over first, before rogue gave jensen a boost. the kid fell over the fence and tumbled to prevent any injury to himself. righting himself he nodded and gave a thumbs up to clay as rogue jumped down. the hacker was gone before rogue had even finished getting up. clay watched jensen sprint off before looking to his sic.  
“alright, lets go”  
nodding rogue followed clay’s lead, giving a glance towards where the hacker had darted too as they ran. the kid was on his own now, if he screwed up, he screwed up. turning his attention back to clay, they hid behind a wall as a security team walked passed. once they were clear they took off towards the warehouse.  
jensen creep-ed closer to the main office, ducking down just in time behind a door when a security officer walked past. glancing around the door he saw the man leave and carefully proceeded down the hallway. it took him a while to find the right room, because he kept having to duck down and hide from the patrolling men around the building. when he finally got to where he needed to be he ducked into the room, before softly closing the door and locking it. it wouldn’t really prevent someone from getting to him, but it might delay them a bit. he was lucky in that this particular room didn’t have windows to the hallway like many others did. the door however did have a window in it. there was nothing he could do about that, so he moved off to the first computer and plugged in his flash drive to hack into the security. he glanced up through the window’s that showed him the compound. he was on the sixth floor, if something happened he’d have to get out fast otherwise he’d run the risk of getting trapped. he smirked when he glanced out the window and thought about that there was a good chance that cougar was watching him. shaking his head, he ducked down and started working on the system. the files were transferring, slower than he’d like, but transferring all the same. he moved to the next computer and started to prep it for the file transfer. pulling up the relevant files he’d need to copy. he glanced over to the first one and groaned, it was taking forever. his head jerked around at the sound of footsteps coming.   
“shit”  
he ducked down under the desk and waited. the footsteps came and then went, sighing he pulled himself back up from the desk and after glancing to the door’s window and seeing nothing, went back to work. he smirked as he yanked the flash drive free. the first set of files complete. plugging it into the second computer, he started the transfer, while that was doing its set task. he slid over to the first one and started wiping the computer clean...there wouldn’t be anything left for them to salvage by the time he was through. grinning like a loon, he set the computer to purge all its data.  
“you should have learned by now, drugs are bad. maybe this will help you out.”  
grinning as his commands to the computer started destroying everything on the computers hard drive, he rolled back over and pulled the the flash drive free. only one more to go, sighing he prepped and started the transfer before going back to the second computer and started to purge it just like he had the first one. he was typing away when the comm in his ear crackled to life.  
“get under the desk amigo”  
jensen darted under the desk at cougar’s request and sighed when he caught the tale tell sounds of someone walking. he’d been so absorbed in his task that he hadn’t heard them approaching. once they were gone he clicked his comm and said.  
“gracias”  
“de nada ( your welcome)”  
smirking, he crawled back from under the desk and got back to work. the second computer was done, glancing to the first he smirked at the sight of the blue screen of death. he moved back to the third and sighed at the progress bar. this one had a lot of information to transfer, he didn’t have time to sort through what was important so he had to just copy everything...which was why it was taking so long. he continued to watch the progress bar as it slowly ticked, one percent at a time. tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk he muttered.  
“come on...come on....”  
if anything it seemed to jensen that the progress bar stopped and might have gone back a percent, which he knew was impossible, but that was what it felt like. sighing he glanced to the door before turning back to look at the progress, still less than halfway.  
“damn it”  
he grit his teeth as he watched it go slowly towards 100%, the estimated time to completion: 15 minutes. as if that was enough of a kick to the balls, his comm crackled, he was about to dive under the desk again figuring it was cougar, but ceased all movement when clay’s voice came over.  
“whats everybody’s status?”  
cougar was the first to chime in.  
“watching the office building, so far they are not aware of jensen.”  
“watching the gates, nothing happening.”  
jensen chimed in after pooch.  
“im on the last computer, its taking forever...whatever they’re hiding is a big file... i need another thirteen minutes.”  
he heard rogue’s curse through clay’s own comm as the co said.  
“anyway to speed things up?”  
“no, i can only do so much. its transferring files. how’s the warehouse?”  
it was quiet a moment and jensen was beginning to believe that he wouldn’t get an answer back, when clay responded.  
“there’s a lot here. as soon as your ready, were blowing this place. we’ve hunkered down and shouldn’t have a problem, keep the comm’s quiet unless its an emergency.”  
the group chimed in to their co’s order before the comm’s went back to utter silence.  
ten minutes later and jensen was ready to throw the damn computer out the window. he’d had to hide over five times from passing security. the progress bar said three more minutes and was resting on 95% stubbornly. the blonde shook his head as he kept glancing to the doorway. waiting for the next subtle hints of a passing guard that he would have to duck away from once more. he turned suddenly when a ping came from the computer. his eyes widened as a pop up box appeared, but instead of the traditional fatal error you got when transferring files. this one read: system compromised, unknown source detected. security system online in 5...4...3...2...1...0....system online.  
“shit shit shit”  
hitting his comm’s he had just begun to say clay’s name when a large booming alarm sounded around the base. clay’s voice came over.  
“jensen whats happening?”  
“they had a trap on the computer, it wouldn’t show up until you were nearly done transferring files...it was meant to make you think you were getting away with it...shit, you guys need to bail, now. blow the damn warehouse, im almost done.”  
“what about you? whats-”  
jensen didn’t hear the rest because he was too busy turning around as the door was kicked open and a team of three security guards came in, guns raised. he raised his hands to show he was unarmed. they began yelling in arabic, demanding to know what he was doing there, who had sent him. swallowing thickly he idly heard the comm in his ear going wild as his teammates shouted out orders, clay barking at pooch to do something to distract the outside guards, while he and rogue were in the process of lighting the warehouse to go up. cougar was told to make the call on whether he could take out the men he had just reported to the rest of the team as holding jensen at gunpoint. smirking jensen called out to the three angry men.  
“hey no problem guys, no problem at all...just just updating your software...i guess you didn’t get the memo?”  
they looked at each other in confusion, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he had actually spoken their language or if they were considering what he had just said as the truth. finally the leader of the team barked out for him to get to his knees.   
knowing that he couldn’t do that because one, he would be vulnerable in that position, and two they would then see the computers behind him, namely the two with blue screens of death and the third finishing the transfer of files. swallowing stiffly he said to them.  
“hey, no need for that, were all friends here man...no need for the guns. just doing some work on your system, i guess amir didn’t tell you i was coming?”  
the guards once more looked at one another in confusion, after all the strange man in front of them had just used their general’s name. however what ever consideration they might have been thinking of giving him went out the window when they all were knocked back by the sudden explosion from the warehouse. the window’s shattering under the concussive blow from the nearby explosion. jensen jumped to his feet twisted and yanked the newly finished flash drive from the computer, he yanked out his hidden gun shot the computers tower three times to make sure it was well and truly dead before sprinting over the recovering men, they were scrambling to give chase as he called into his comms.  
“got the data, computers are down...being chased as we speak by some very pissed off men...”  
clays voice came over the comm’s  
“get out of that building corporal, cougar will cover you as best he can, if you get cornered, get yourself to a window so he can see you”  
“yes sir...running as fast as i can...man that was some explosion you guys did, real pretty like.”  
“move it jensen!”  
pooch called out, the hacker nodded his head even though no one could see him do it.  
“running”  
“pooch got the gates open, once your out of the building make a break for it, cougar will cover you, rogue and i are making our way towards the gate now.”  
“got it...holy shi-”  
there was a crashing sound from over the comm’s before it fell quiet.  
“jensen?”  
there was nothing in reply.  
“Jensen!”  
“cougar do you have eyes on him?”  
“no”  
“damn it...jensen you respond to me right now corporal”  
still nothing.  
“me and rogue are on route to get him, pooch find a car, were going to need to evac asap”  
“you got it”

*******************

they had managed to get into the warehouse easily enough. though crawling through the side windows was uncomfortable for both of them, it got them in undetected. crouching down they looked around to all the crates.  
“kid wasn’t kidding, this place is loaded.”  
nodding his head, clay lead the way. they easily found the drugs jensen had talked about, crate after crate was stacked to the brim with different drugs. cocaine, meth, and large amounts of weed. shaking his head clay muttered.  
“how the brass thought this was human trafficking...”  
“they’re morons. doesn’t matter, were here now and this is all going to burn.”  
nodding his head, clay lead his sic through the warehouse. the pair of them ducking down to avoid detection as security came passed. the co could tell rogue just wanted to take the guys down instead of hiding, rogue was never one for covert operations, he’d rather be out in the open taking people on than slinking around in the dark. shaking his head he nudged his sic and the pair continued deeper into the warehouse.  
when they came upon some barrels, they ducked down to try and read what was in them. both of them shook their head.  
“they building bombs too?”  
“looks like it...we wont have a problem with this place igniting”  
rogue snorted at that before stating.  
“yeah, gonna be real fun to light it and dash, how far do you think the explosion will go?”  
clay shrugged his shoulders to the man.  
“we can rig up a wick, like a candle...it’ll give us more time to get out and away from the blast.”  
rogue nodded his head before looking around for something they could use to accomplish that. he smirked when his eyes landed on something, nudging clay he pointed. the commanding officer snorted.  
“yeah that’ll do.”  
the pair crept over to the roll of packing fiber. together they were able to get it knocked over and started the lengthy process of rolling it out to use as their wick. once they had a lengthy rope of the fiber-ous material, they settled back behind some crates. clay tapping his comm’s before saying.  
“progress report”  
cougar was the first to chime in.  
“watching the office building, so far they are not aware of jensen.”  
“watching the gates, nothing happening.”  
jensen chimed in after pooch.  
“im on the last computer, its taking forever...whatever they’re hiding is a big file... i need another thirteen minutes.”  
rogue cursed next to clay, muttering about it taking too damn long and wasn’t the kid supposed to be good at that sort of stuff. ignoring his second in command, clay asked.  
“anyway to speed things up?”  
“no, i can only do so much. its transferring files. how’s the warehouse?”  
clay gave a stony look at rogue, preventing the man from talking over his comm, as he had caught the look on his sic’s face. rogue glared before dropping his hand back down to his side. finally clay replied.  
“there’s a lot here. as soon as your ready, were blowing this place. we’ve hunkered down and shouldn’t have a problem, keep the comm’s quiet unless its an emergency.”  
the group chimed in and the comm’s went back to utter silence.  
as they waited for jensen to finish, rogue piped up beside him.  
“this is taking too long”  
giving the man a look he said.  
“it’ll take however long it takes, he’s doing his best and without him we wouldn’t have gotten the intel in the first place. we came in here thinking we might have to rescue people rogue...our intel was so far north its not even funny.”  
rogue snorted before opening his mouth to say.  
“i bet you-”  
before the man could finish his sentence a loud blaring alarm sounded around them, echoing around the compound. rogue gave him a very pissed off yet vindicated look. clay cursed before slamming the button on his comm’s.  
“jensen whats happening?”  
the hackers startled voice came over the comm’s to reply.  
“they had a trap on the computer, it wouldn’t show up until you were nearly done transferring files...it was meant to make you think you were getting away with it...shit, you guys need to bail, now. blow the damn warehouse, im almost done.”  
looking to rogue as the man got up and started to prep their fuse, he exclaimed.  
“what about you? whats going on”  
there was no reply from the hacker, as he was about to demand an update, his sniper came a crossed the comm’s  
“jensen is being held at gunpoint by three men. orders?”  
cursing he held up a hand to hold off rogue as he answered cougar.  
“your move cougar, if you can take the shots and keep jensen covered do it, otherwise hold off until a better situation presents itself.”  
“si”  
“pooch, get that gate open and give them something to look at”  
“yes sir”  
clay looked to rogue and nodded. the sic lit their fuse and the pair of them darted down the length of the warehouse, shooting down any guards as they ran. entering the courtyard of the compound they rounded a building just in time as the warehouse blew. they still felt the tremor of the blast through the ground and they grinned at each other. rogue shot a man as he rounded the building, he dropped dead before even realizing who he had come a crossed. nodding his head, clay said.  
“lets get out of here.”  
rogue followed suit and they began to make their way a crossed the compound. as they ran between building the comm cracked to life and jensen’s panting voice came a crossed.  
“got the data, computers are down...being chased as we speak by some very pissed off men...”  
clay grit his teeth before calling over the comm’s.  
“get out of that building corporal, cougar will cover you as best he can, if you get cornered, get yourself to a window so he can see you”  
the hacker replied in kind, his panting breaths breaking up his words as he continued to evade the men chasing him.  
“yes sir...running as fast as i can...man that was some explosion you guys did, real pretty like.”  
shaking his head as he shot another guard he was relieved when it didn’t fall to him to reorganize the kid again as pooch yelled a crossed their comms  
“move it jensen!”  
“running”  
glancing around their latest cover, clay nodded his head at seeing the gates open. he called out to his team.  
“pooch got the gates open, once your out of the building make a break for it, cougar will cover you, rogue and i are making our way towards the gate now.”  
“got it...holy shi-”  
there was a crashing sound from over the comm’s before it fell quiet. glancing to rogue who raised a brow at him, clay asked.  
“jensen?”  
there was nothing in reply. both him and rogue frowned before rogue said.  
“they catch him?”  
shaking his head he called out again.  
“Jensen!”  
still nothing, so he called out to the only person who could possibly see what was going on.  
“cougar do you have eyes on him?”  
“no”  
gritting his teeth he tried on last time to reach the errant hacker.  
“damn it...jensen you respond to me right now corporal”  
still nothing. looking to rogue who now had a resigned look on his face he smirked at his sic, before barking the following orders.  
“me and rogue are on route to get him, pooch find a car, were going to need to evac asap, cougar you keep an eye out for jensen, you catch sight of anybody making moves on him, you level em.”  
he heard both of his men respond positively to his orders before he and rogue took off towards the building that jensen was in.

*****************

clay downed a man right in the entrance way to the office building. he quickly reloaded his gun before nodding to rogue, his sic rounded the hall and fired once. clay followed suit and the pair of them ran down the length of the hallway, rogue bashing his fist into a man as he exited a room. the poor souls head ricocheted off of the doorway before the man crashed to the floor where he lay unmoving. snorting clay pressed forward as he commented.  
“might have been nicer of you to shoot him”  
“might have”  
grinning clay hunkered at a corner and waited for rogue to nod before darting around together. they shot simultaneously and downed two guards. running they darted over the fallen men before climbing a set of stairs.  
“which floor was he on?”  
rogue asked as he threw a man past them down the length of the stairs, they watched passively as the guard crashed headfirst down the flight of stairs to lay in a heap at the base of them. clay shook his head as he looked up to rogue.  
“i don’t know.”  
hitting his comm he asked cougar.  
“cougar what floor was he on?”  
“he was on six, headed for five before he stopped talking”  
“okay, any movement?”  
“i have downed the three men that were chasing jensen, no others are present.”  
nodding his head he warned the sniper.  
“me and rogue just made it to the third floor, keep your eyes peeled.”  
“si”  
the two officers continued forward, another man was killed as they got the other side of the floor and made their way to the fourth floor. they crouched down as they heard men yelling in arabic. rogue snorted before muttering.  
“idiots aren’t even trying to figure out what all the gunfire is?”  
clay shook his head.  
“maybe, they could also be aware that their trapped between a shooter above them and a shooter below them.”  
rogue grinned and nodded.  
“fish in a barrel”  
shaking his head clay warned the man.  
“they’re ready for us, don’t get cocky.”  
rogue snorted before reloading his gun. he nodded to clay before checking around the corner to see if the men were visible. he came back around just in time as a haze of bullets went their way. rogue snorted before saying.  
“idiots, wasting all that ammo”  
clay snorted at him, they waited for the shooting to stop before clay signaled the man. together they rounded the corner and fired, pulling back to avoid the return fire.  
“i downed one, injured another”  
clay nodded before saying.  
“downed one”  
nodding they waited for the gunfire to stop before listening. the shouting was even more frantic now, no doubt the trapped men were becoming increasingly agitated by their predicament. both rogue and clay’s heads bolted up when they heard a familiar voice.  
“uh...hey no shoving man...no no..i got it i got it...damn....okay....”  
shaking his head rogue muttered.  
“if they don’t kill him i will”  
clay snorted before calling out.  
“corporal you okay?”  
“oh hey boss...ow watch it...yeah im-im good...wow that’s a lot of blood there...these guys are pissed by the way.”  
snorting clay called back.  
“can you talk with them?”  
“sure...not that they’ll listen to what i have to say, because they wont.”  
shaking his head rogue called out to the hacker.  
“tell them to drop their weapons and we’ll let them live.”  
“really? i mean i know their stupid, but i don’t think their that stupid dude.”  
gritting his teeth, rogue yelled out.  
“just do it!”  
“fine fine no need to get crabby...”  
they listened as the hacker began speaking in arabic to his captors. a moment later there was more yelling from the men before jensen yelped suddenly before they heard a crash.  
“jensen!”  
“cool-im cool...just going to sit right here, leaning against this wall, completely out of line of fire...and chill.”  
smirking at each other at the hacker’s nonchalant explanation of his present location, the two of them asked.  
“how many?”  
“can cougar get a shot?”  
there was a moment of silence before the man said.  
“uh maybe five...though one of them is leaking pretty bad...so i’d say four and half.”  
snorting clay spoke into the comm’s.  
“cougar, fourth floor.”  
“si...ah, i can see jensen, he is sitting against a wall, he is bleeding. there are two that i can see.”  
“he says there’s five, how close are the two you can see to him?”  
“one is holding a gun to his head, the other is a few paces back.”  
shaking his head clay said.  
“we cant risk it, he could pull the trigger in death throes...alright, were going to try and gain their attention, the moment you’ve got a clear shot of the guy on jensen, you take it...jensen you get this? don’t move.”  
there was no reply from the hacker down the hall, so clay continued over the comm’s.  
“alright, he’s off comm’s but we can shout things to him. as soon as they turn towards us, make your move.”  
“si”  
letting the comm’s go silent, he turned to rogue and after they made sure their gun’s were loaded, rogue called out to the hacker.  
“you don’t move a muscle kid”  
“okie dokie...im cool with that.”  
smirking clay and rogue got into position just as they heard the men with jensen start shouting in arabic again.  
“jensen?”  
“uh...okay okay..yeah, they-what dumb ass’s they want you to leave.”  
snorting clay said.  
“and?”  
“well i think that’s as far as their little plan goes boss”  
shaking his head, clay looked to rogue who was shaking in silent laughter.  
“alright kid, hold tight...this is going to get messy real fast.”  
“sure...no problem.  
raising their gun’s, rogue and clay rounded the corner and began trading bullets with the men. the second the men turned towards them, their own guns’ raised, a shot rang out, the man who had turned away from jensen dropping instantly. the others scrambled as another was dropped by rogue and then another by clay. the two remaining men made split second decisions that would cost them any chance at survival. one went for jensen, being dropped by the sniper watching outside, the other went to run up to the fifth floor. he was shot in the back by rogue as he fled. with all of the threats down, clay called out to cougar over comm’s.  
“were going to him”  
“si”  
they darted down the hallway, crouching down beside jensen who smirked at them, half of his face was covered in blood and he blinked owlishly at them. his glasses no where to be found, he lay limply against the wall. shaking his head, rogue muttered.  
“i’ll stand guard, check the kid out”  
nodding clay inspected the hacker who wasn’t focusing on him.  
“kid, you doing okay?”  
jensen smiled at him.  
“hey, sorry about the alarm...it didn-”  
“jensen...are you okay”  
the blonde blinked at him, sighing clay looked to rogue and said.  
“come on, lets get out of here.”  
turning to the hacker clay grabbed him under the arm and said.  
“up you get”  
jensen wobbled to his feet, his hand flailing out before he caught hold of rogue’s arm, the sic glared at him before realizing that the kid wasn’t touching him to annoy him, but rather because he was going to fall over if he didn’t. frowning the sic asked jensen.  
“how hard did you hit your head kid?”  
“i didn’t hit my head”  
snorting rogue said.  
“yeah, cause your the epitome of stable right now, half your face is red kid, and your blinking like a friggin bat.”  
“bats can see really well actually, that’s a myth...though the echolo-”  
snorting rogue looked to the smirking clay, the man shook his head before cutting off the man.  
“jensen, you have a concussion. just walk with us alright?”  
“i don’t have a concussion dude, im fine”  
shaking his head, clay replied.  
“fine, you don’t have a concussion, your just going to walk with us, keep up right?”  
“sure thing boss.”  
nodding he gave rogue a look before the pair of them began to lead the hacker out of the building. jensen stumbled around a lot as he grasped onto them tightly. rogue kept shaking his head and muttering about ‘idiot brain challenged hackers’, but it appeared that jensen either wasn’t catching his ramblings or was too occupied by his own problems to care enough to reply. before they left the building clay used their comm to call out to his team.  
“were coming out, pooch you ready?”  
“yes man, im right outside the gate, you get there your home free.”  
“were on our way, cougar after we make it to the gate, make your way back to camp”  
“si”  
nodding to rogue they began the trek a crossed the compound. there were still plenty of people inside the area, but they didn’t care about that. they dropped anyone who came avcrossed them and returned fire as they ran towards the gate. once they started running, clay and rogue had to hold tight to jensen and drag the kid as he stumbled to keep up with them. they ducked behind cars and walls on their way towards the gate. occasionally they heard the pop of cougar’s rifle going off followed by a tale tell thump of someone crashing to the ground nearby. as they ran around the compound, jensen rambled to them about different things, none of it made any sense to them so they chalked it up to his head wound. occasionally one of them would shh the man, jensen would stay quiet until the threat was neutralized before starting back up again. they crouched behind a wall, the gate within a final home stretch. glancing to one another they passed similar looks of this is going to be it. they reloaded their gun’s before grabbing a hold of jensen again.  
“alright, one last sprint and were home free kid. you ready?”  
“sure...im good...i like sprinting...its fun, like way better than jogging..jogging is boring right? so lame”  
shaking his head rogue muttered.  
“and i thought he was bad when he was normal”  
clay smirked at him before shushing the hacker.  
“alright, lets go”  
they hoisted jensen back to his feet, where the kid wobbled. his hands tightening their holds on them as theirs did the same to him. once he was somewhat stable they made their mad dash towards freedom. just as they rounded the gate they caught sight of pooch, he had his gun out and was waiting. he sighed upon seeing them.  
“get in”  
he gave a cursory glance to the bloodied jensen before hoping into the drivers seat. clay and rogue piled into the back with jensen and held on as pooch didn’t wait around. flooring it and making a hearty get away. rogue slid the door shut as they sped off. the sic turned back to face the hacker and clay when he heard the hacker whine.  
“hey now...my head...you have your own”  
clay snorted before saying.  
“let me see, head wound’s bleed a lot, but we need to make sure your not losing bits of your brain alright?”  
“i’d know if i was doing that...its my brain after all”  
they all smirked at the hackers sure tone, pooch chuckled from the front seat. clay continued to poke and prod at the blonde, jensen batting at his hands once he felt them on himself. clay finally backed off with a glower on his face.  
“once we make camp, your letting us clean you up, no arguments corporal.”  
jensen snorted at him before replying.  
“i can bathe myself thank you very much, been doing it since i was little...probably six...yeah i think i was six...don’t listen to sarah she’s lying when she says otherwise...she’s a lying liar.”  
pooch cracked up as he steered their car around a bend. clay smirked at the hacker while rogue shook his head at him. they pulled the car as close to their camp as they dared, before rogue and clay hoisted jensen out of the car. pooch called out.  
“i’ll ditch it and head back.”  
clay nodded before ordering the man to be careful. pooch waved before driving off. rogue and clay manhandled the squirming hacker towards camp.   
they weren’t overly surprised to find that cougar had beaten them there. the sniper already had their medical supplies strewn out on their makeshift table and was waiting patiently for their return. he shook his head at the sight of the hacker.  
“que te has metido en mi amigo? (what did you get yourself into my friend?”  
jensen blinked owlishly at the sniper as rogue and clay lowered him to the ground. rogue finally saying to the man.  
“i think english might be best right now, his brain’s addled enough as it is without the language barrier.”  
cougar nodded his head as he crouched down and reached out to wipe at the blood on his friends face. jensen jerked back at the first touch of the dampened cloth. the sniper sh’d him before trying again. jensen frowned at him, reaching up and wrapping his fingers around cougar’s and the cloth he held.  
“i can do it”  
shaking his head the sniper said.  
“you cannot see it amigo”  
jensen scowled at him before muttering.  
“doesn’t matter i can still do it, im good at this kind of stuff.”  
shaking his head cougar said.  
“you do not have to do this alone”  
the hacker sighed before stubbornly saying.  
“i can still do it”  
he leaned forward to whisper to the sniper.  
“they think i cant...but i can, im good with improvising...they wouldn’t even let me walk on my own, how rude is that?”  
smirking cougar continued to dab at his friends head, the added weight of the man’s hand not preventing him from doing his task, and it seemed that by letting jensen hold onto the cloth with him, the hacker would let him continue. cougar nodded his head to the blonde’s statement before adding.  
“si, very rude”  
jensen nodded his head fervently.  
“yeah i know”  
“hold still amigo”  
the hacker nodded again making the sniper smirk as he was aware that the hacker hadn’t realized that he’d just moved again. so he reached out and gently held the man’s chin with his other hand. keeping him held firmly in place while he cleaned his head. he didn’t bother to turn to see pooch’s arrival, because the man was already talking as he entered their camp.  
“car’s a ways off, its there if we need it, but not close enough to draw anyone near here. how is he?”  
the man settled down next to jensen, the blonde tried to turn his head, but couldn’t because of cougar. pooch smirked when the blonde cried out.  
“oh that’s not fair either...its my head, give it back”  
chuckling pooch commented.  
“well that answers that.”  
“what does?”  
jensen asked the man. pooch shook his head, clapping the hacker on the back as he said.  
“don’t worry about it man.”  
“okay”  
smirking the transport specialist told cougar.  
“well looks like you have this in hand, do you need anything?”  
“si, more water”  
nodding his head pooch went to retrieve some more water for the sniper. the small bowl he had been using to dip the cloth in was already turning a deep pink as he repeatedly dipped the bloody cloth into the water. he had managed to clean the man’s chin and was halfway up the man’s cheek when jensen hissed. cougar pulled back and looked carefully before sighing. he called out over his shoulders.  
“i need tweezers”  
clay came over with the aforementioned tools. kneeling down to inspect his hacker he asked.  
“shrapnel?”  
“glass”  
nodding his head clay watched as cougar gently fished for the edge of the glass sharp, jensen was tensing though and trying to pull away at the stinging pain. sighing, clay went around the kid and braced the back of his head and neck for the sniper.  
“gracias”  
“don’t thank him..its my head...ow that stings...”  
shaking his head clay replied.  
“hold still and it’ll be over soon...you don’t want glass in your face do you?”  
jensen tried to tilt his head back, in some fashion to make eye contact to reply to the man, but was prevented by both clay and cougar’s hands. sighing the tech replied.  
“is it cool glass?”  
snorting cougar replied.  
“no”  
“oh...then i guess not, if it was cool glass then maybe i’d want to keep it...ow!”  
cougar smiled as he finally fished out the shard of glass. he held it up for clay to see. the man nodded, the glass shard was about the size of a dime. cougar placed it aside before dabbing at the open wound as it was bleeding.  
“he need stitches?”  
cougar pulled the cloth away to examine the wound, he tilted his head before saying.  
“it could go either way”  
nodding his head, clay released jensen and came around to see the wound for himself. cougar was right, it was a decent enough cut, the glass having embedded deep into the man’s cheek. it was barely an inch wide, but it continued to bleed. looking to cougar he muttered.  
“i’ll get the supplies”  
nodding cougar held the cloth to the man’s cheek, pooch came back right after that. the man offering up another bowl of clean water for the sniper to use.  
“gracias...hold please”  
pooch nodded and held the cloth to jensen who was blinking in between looking back and forth from them. cougar accepted the supplies from his co, before turning to jensen and saying.  
“you will hold still amigo, this will sting. moving will only make it worse.”  
jensen pouted before saying.  
“that’s mean”  
smirking, the sniper glanced to a chuckling pooch before nodding to the man. pooch smirked, before crawling behind jensen to kneel behind him. he put his hands on the kids shoulders before saying.  
“alright genius, while he stitches you up, why don’t you tell us how you managed to get cut up”  
jensen nodded his head, luckily cougar was still prepping the needle, but it was enough for pooch to realize that he actually needed to hold the kids head still, especially after cougar gave him a put out look. once he had the kid braced he said.  
“go on”  
“oh yeah....okay....so i was running...and running...and-”  
“jensen”  
“yeah?”  
“get to the point man”  
“oh okay....yeah so...i was running and talking...i- i was almost to the stairs when someone punched me in the face...i think i fell down the staircase?”  
“is that a question or a statement jensen?”  
“uh...question?”  
snorting pooch said.  
“well no one knows what happened to you, so just guess.”  
“okay...yeah, so i fell down the stairs and the guy came after me...he kicked me a couple times and was shouting a lot...but i think me cursing in arabic really threw him for a loop cause he stopped kicking me...ow ow ow...stop it”  
cougar shook his head as he performed the first stitch.  
“hold still”  
“that hurts”  
“si, hold still”  
jensen pouted at the sniper until pooch distracted him again.  
“and after he stopped kicking you?”  
“hmm, oh well i started chatting him up ya know, just simple stuff like how it was rude to punch people. he was really confused and then started yelling about why i was there and of course i wouldn’t answer him and then his friends came and...well i think i fell again.”  
snorting pooch asked.  
“fell or were pushed dude?”  
“i don’t know...ow ow ow cougar be gentle”  
the sniper looked at the hacker with a bemused expression on his face, pooch was laughing as he said.  
“dude you cant be gentle and give stitches”  
“he could try”  
rolling his eyes the sniper finished the last stitch before tying it off and nodding his head. pooch let the kids head go, jensen’s hand immediately came up to touch the new stitches, but cougars hand caught his. the sniper shook his head.  
“no, i am not done.”  
jensen pouted at him.  
“why not?”  
smirking the man stated factually.  
“i need to clean it off and bandage it and you are still bloody mi amigo”  
the blonde huffed at that before turning to say to pooch.  
“he’s lying isn’t he? im perfectly fine, i’d know if i wasn’t”  
pooch grinned at the hacker and nodded his head before saying.  
“uh sure you would dude, but might as well let cougar look you over right?”  
jensen thought about it a moment before shrugging his shoulders. he submitted to the sniper as he applied a small dab of antiseptic cream before placing a small bandage over the man’s cheek before he began to wipe down his face again bit by bit, removing the blood. pooch smirked before reaching over to get another cloth, he dipped it in the water before leaning over the hackers scalp. he gently started dabbing at it.  
“he’s gotta be bleeding from up top”  
“si”  
“we can get this done faster with the two of us.”  
the sniper nodded his head as he continued his work on the blonde. jensen had fallen quiet, but was still awake. his eyes would glance between cougar and the milling forms of clay and rogue. he couldn’t see pooch as the man was behind him, but he could feel the gentle dabbing on his head. finally after a couple minutes the blonde spoke up again and said.  
“you shot him”  
both pooch and cougar stopped what they were doing, pooch daring to ask.  
“what are you talking about jake?”  
“cougar...he shot him”  
the sniper glanced to pooch before letting his gaze fall back to the blonde.  
“si”  
the hacker frowned at him, sighing cougar said.  
“i am a sniper jake, you know this.”  
“well yeah...but you-you actually shot him...”  
sighing the sniper looked to pooch for some kind of assistance. the bald man scratched the back of his own head before saying.  
“uh jake, why does that bother you, didn’t the guy have a gun to your head?”  
the blonde tilted his head back too far and almost fell backwards. pooch stabilized the man before hearing the man’s response.  
“yeah...he said he was going to kill me if they didn’t back off... he said his finger was on the trigger and everything”  
both pooch and cougar shuddered a little at that. finally pooch collected himself enough to say.  
“cougar saved your life jake”  
the hacker looked from pooch to the sniper who was staring at him, waiting for the blonde to make up his mind on how he felt about it. finally the hacker said in a straight voice.  
“he didn’t scream”  
cougar frowned before shaking his head at the blonde.  
“no, i shot him...in the chest...his heart.”  
the blonde blinked at him before saying.  
“oh...okay, i guess that makes sense then...i would have preferred if he had screamed though.”  
and just like that the blonde looked up to pooch as asked.  
“where’d you get the car?”  
pooch looked at him like he was nuts, he managed to get out.  
“okay? that’s it? you weren’t bothered by cougar shooting him, you were freaked out because he didn’t make enough noise as he died?”  
his voice rising as he made his point. jake looked up at him before looking to cougar in a confused fashion. sighing cougar told pooch.  
“it is fine. his head-”  
pooch shook his head.  
“dude, it is not fine.”  
crouching down beside jake, pooch asked.  
“why did you want him to make noise? you know snipers don’t wound people jake, he wasn’t going to make noise no matter if cougar aimed at his head or his heart.”  
the blonde frowned at him before making a matter of fact statement.  
“cause i couldn’t see him”  
they both stared at him like he was nuts.  
“of course you couldn’t see him dude, cougar was like what 500 yards away. what does that have to do with the guy making noise?”  
the blonde made a disgruntled sound at that, but before either cougar or pooch could try and calm him, clay strode over and knelt down.  
“jensen”  
the blonde looked to clay.  
“yeah boss?”  
clay looked briefly to both pooch and cougar a faint tilt to his lips before he looked back to jensen and asked.  
“where are your glasses?”  
the blonde snorted at him before saying.  
“i don’t know, under a dead guy i think”  
nodding his head clay turned a ‘you should have realized’ look onto cougar and pooch before getting to his feet and asking.  
“you got a spare?”  
“no”  
sighing clay asked.  
“and how blind are you without them?”  
“uh...pretty blind sir...i-i mean i can see you...well not you per say, more a colored blob that’s apparently talking to me...”  
snorting clay looked to the stunned faces of pooch and cougar and said.  
“he wasn’t bothered by cougar shooting the guy, he was bothered by the guy not making noise after getting shot because he couldn’t see anything going on around him. all that gunfire going off, he didn’t know how close the bullets were to him. that guy dropping next to him-well would you be so giddy to not be able to see what was happening?”  
“no sir”  
pooch chimed in, cougar shook his head.  
“didn’t think so, keep an eye on him...i should have figured this wasn’t all a head wound with how he was walking and talking...we get back to base, your getting replacement glasses so this doesn’t happen again.”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“Okkie dokie.”  
clay shook his head before striding back off to talk to rogue about their trip to civilization, with jensen nearly blind it wasn’t going to be an easy trip.   
both pooch and cougar apologized to the hacker, but jensen shook his head.  
“mah not a big deal...i just hate being blind... i mean i can see your outlines and the blobby-ness of you...your hat helps actually.”  
cougar smirked at him. pooch spoke up from behind the man.  
“still, we didn’t get why you were upset...you’ve been a little scatter brained since we got you dude.”  
the blonde man nodded his head at them.  
“im fine...totally fine...well except for the being blind thing...and the stitches...hate the stitches man...bad cougar”  
snorting the sniper dipped the cloth back in the water before reaching out for jensen’s face. the hacker pulled back before settling.  
“Oh...”  
“lo siento (im sorry)”  
jensen shook his head.  
“its cool...just weird seeing stuff move towards you when you don’t know what it is...i guess your going to finish doctoring me up?”  
“si”  
“doctor away dr. alvarez”  
pooch snorted behind him, while cougar smirked. jensen jumped a little at the first touch, but settled down afterwards. between them, cougar and pooch were able to clear away the blood faster. it wasn’t until jensen hissed that they knew they had found someplace in need of actual ‘doctoring’. pooch shook his head as he leaned in to examine the cut he’d found.  
“doesn’t look like there’s anything in there.”  
“your fingers in there”  
jensen muttered. pooch snorted at him.  
“no its not, its gently probing the area to make sure there’s no debris that needs to be removed.  
jensen missed everything following gently because he muttered.  
“gentle my ass.”  
cougar chuckled as he looked up to the amused face of pooch to ask.  
“stitches?”  
“well, its in his hair so i really don’t think-”  
“you are not stitching my hair”  
pooch glared down at his ‘patient’  
“dude, not what i was going to say...its difficult to stitch this area without removing the hair.”  
jensen tensed and tried to get up, but both cougar and pooch shoved him back down.  
“oh no no no no no no. you are not cutting my hair.”  
cougar sighed as he held down his friend. pooch shook his head.  
“dude, your head is bleeding, you’ve got a good sized hole up here.”  
“i like the hole, the hole can stay”  
pooch snorted at him.  
“dumbass, it’ll get infected if we leave it open like this.”  
“gauze...lots and lots of gauze man...make me a mummy i don’t care, but you are not cutting my hair.”  
pooch gave a beseeching look to the sniper, knowing that if anyone could reason with the hacker it would be him. sighing cougar tapped the man’s cheek to get his attention.  
“amigo-”  
“no cougs. its my hair...my hair man....i am not getting shaved, im not some hairless cat.”  
pooch chuckled at that before saying.  
“im not going to shave your whole head dude, just the area around the wound.”  
“still no”  
shaking his head pooch gave up trying to work with the man sitting below him and resorted to underhanded tricks by calling out.  
“hey clay, come order jensen here to let me shave his head”  
“you bastard!”  
the blonde jumped to try and tackle the laughing transport specialist, but cougar forced the man back into his seat, while sending a glare to the laughing pooch. both clay and rogue came over to see what all the fuss was about.  
“why do i need to order him to let you shave his head?”  
“he’s got a hole up here on his head, his hairs in the way of me stitching it...but he refuses to let me do it.”  
sighing clay looked down at the struggling blonde and said.  
“corporal, you are going to let pooch and cougar do what ever they need to in order to patch you up, if that includes shaving your hair off, then so be it.”  
“oh man, come on clay...that’s not fair...i like the hole, its my friend....don’t take away my friend.”  
shaking his head clay muttered.  
“im going to blame that on the blow to the head you probably took, patch him up.”  
pooch nodded his head, looking down to cougar he said.  
“i’ll go get some scissors”  
“ah man...nooooo”  
cougar sh’d the hacker, but jensen turned and said.  
“cougar come on man...don’t let them do this”  
“lo siento mi amigo ( im sorry my friend)”  
“don’t say your sorry, help me escape man”  
smirking the sniper shook his head. jensen slumped in his grasp before he muttered.  
“i don’t wanna be bald like pooch”  
“hey!”  
the man said as he returned with the scissors.  
“i look good bald”  
jensen looked up blearily to the pooch blob and nodded.  
“yes you do, very good...your a bald Adonis...now please put down the scissors...wherever they are...”  
smirking at the nearly blind man pooch said.  
“look at cougar and don’t move. i don’t want to cut you or stab the wound site while i do this.”  
sighing, jensen let cougar take his chin in hand again and force himself to hold still. he winced when he felt the coldness of the scissors.  
“this blows”  
“si”  
the blonde sighed when he felt the first clip of the scissors and felt the first clump of hair fall away.  
“is it too late to go punch that guy in the balls for this”  
the men chuckled at that before pooch told him as he continued to cut the man’s hair.  
“he’s probably dead dude.”  
“it’d still make me feel better”  
“what punching a dead dude in the balls?”  
“sure why not?”  
snorting pooch continued trimming away until he could get a better look at the wound and shook his head.  
“its a good thing we did this, its deeper than i thought...longer too. a little more and i’d be seeing parts of your skull dude. can you remember hitting anything?”  
“no...why? whats it look like?”  
pooch snorted.  
“idiot, it looks like you cracked your head open on something sharp. its a bloody cut in your head, it doesn’t advertise what it was.”  
jensen pouted at the man’s statement before telling them both.  
“im telling jo that you two were mean to me”  
pooch and cougar laughed at that,before pooch told him.  
“yeah and when i tell her you were trying to negotiate with drug peddlers while bleeding and blind, im sure she’ll be up in arms to defend you.”  
huffing jensen muttered.  
“see, your mean”  
chuckling pooch finished trimming the man’s hair before telling him the good news.  
“well, its shorter, but i didn’t take it down to your scalp...looks like a a buzz cut really, like basic training. i’ll even out the rest for you when im done alright?”  
“fine”  
the man retorted petulantly. pooch shook his head at the blonde.  
“such a baby i swear”  
jensen pouted out.  
“meany”  
laughing, pooch handed the scissors to cougar before taking a gauze pad soaked in alcohol.  
“alright buddy, this is gonna suck big time. so if you know any interesting curse words in any foreign languages, now’s the time to use them”  
“wha-why...what are you doing? cougar what’s he doing?”  
“calm amigo, he has to clean it”  
“oh fuck no...no no no....that was not part of our deal”  
pooch and cougar chuckled before the transport specialist said.  
“what deal? you bitched until clay ordered you to comply. this is part of complying. now take a deep breath”  
jensen whined before nodding his head. cougar put one of his hands on the blondes shoulder and the other was firmly holding his chin in place. the two men shared a look before pooch pressed the alcohol to jensen’s head.  
“FUCKING HELL!”  
pooch chuckled as he held the alcohol swab to the kids head, cougar was grinning. they both glanced over when they heard rogue laughing a crossed the camp. clay was shaking his head. returning their attention to their patient, pooch told the kid.  
“your doing good”  
“oh...fuck you man...fuck you so-....damn much...”  
chuckling pooch didn’t take the comment to heart. instead he gently peeled the gauze away and shook his head.  
“well, it looks a little better...doesn’t seem to be much debris in it so that’s good...we’ll just stitch ya up and you should be good to go”  
jensen bit his lip and did as much of a nod as he could while being held in place. cougar reached over and prepared the suturing needle for pooch. once the needle was prepped he handed it off in exchange for the dirty gauze which he threw into the growing pile of used supplies. the sniper made sure he had a firm hold on the blonde before asking him.  
“ready amigo?”  
“fuck no, not that it matters to the either of you two evil bastards.”  
smirking cougar looked up to pooch who was chuckling at the kids antics. pooch shook his head and said.  
“here we go kiddies”  
jensen braced himself and yelped as the needle was pushed through his scalp.  
“fuck...son of a bitch man that hurts”  
“i know, hold still this isn’t as easy as it looks”  
jensen snorted at that, but didn’t fight as cougar held his head firmer to prevent him from moving. he grimaced as the needle pierced his head again, before making a disgusted face as he told them.  
“okay that just feels so wrong”  
pooch chuckled before asking.  
“what? me pulling your head back together?”  
“yeah...i mean ugh”  
cougar chuckled as the hacker expressed his revulsion to the sensations he was feeling. pooch continued to slowly feed the needle back and forth through the two halves of jensen’s parted scalp. the hacker bitched and moaned as he went.   
“almost done”  
“thank god man, this fuckin hurts...i am never letting you near my head again”  
snorting pooch commented dryly.  
“ don’t crack your head open and i wont have too.”  
jensen gritted his teeth as the man above him proceeded to make another stitch, suturing his head back together. the blonde looked to cougar and asked.  
“we got any tequila?”  
snorting the sniper shook his head before saying a quiet ‘no’.  
“damn...cause that would be very-ow ow ow son of a bitch man...gentle”  
pooch shook his head as he continued to thread the needle through the man’s broken head. he shared an amused look with cougar when he glanced up from his task. the sniper turned his attention back to his friend and said.  
“we will get some when we go home yes?”  
“oh hell yes we will...im putting it down on our requirements from now on”  
cougar chuckled at that, before pooch said.  
“that wont fly and you know it”  
“fuck it will if i hack into it after its already been cleared”  
pooch chuckled before muttering back.  
“don’t you think someone will notice when our team suddenly starts getting alcohol for missions? that’s not a necessity jensen”  
“fucking hell....right now it is, damn it are you done yet?”  
shaking his head the man replied.  
“almost, three...no four more”  
“damn man....those better be pretty up there cause it feels like your butchering me....who taught you to sew?”  
rolling his eyes, pooch replied.  
“its not sewing jensen, its field medicine.”  
“you have a needle and thread, which you are currently using to put two pieces of my head back together again with. that’s sewing.”  
sighing, pooch finished the last stitch before tying off the thread and snipping the excess off. he clapped the kid on the shoulder.  
“all done”  
“jesus christ man...about time.”  
the blonde reached a hand up to try and feel, but pooch swatted his hand away.  
“don’t touch it dumb ass, i still need to wipe it clean and then put some antiseptic down...we probably cant put a bandage around this...though we could wrap your head.”  
snorting jensen replied.  
“nuh uh, you lot the privilege of making me look like a mummy when you butchered my head back together...you had your chance, too late now to play dress up.”  
chuckling pooch nodded his head.  
“alright fine you big baby...i’ll clean it off and we’ll let it breath, but if it starts to get irritated...were wrapping you up.”  
“fine fine...wait what are you cleaning it with?”  
pooch looked to cougar and the sniper nodded his head. jensen caught that movement and said.  
“you all suck”  
chuckling pooch instructed the man to take a breath before he poured some alcohol over the wound. jensen hissed, his fists tightening on his pant legs and he jostled his legs up and down in a weird manner to try and force the pain away. the two men shook their heads at him before pooch began to gently dab at the wound.   
“alright, your good to go man. let us wipe the rest of you off and you can do whatever ya want.”  
without missing beat the hacker said.  
“i want to hit the both of you...and kick that douchebag in the balls for beating on my head....which one am i allowed to do”  
pooch and cougar smirked at the blonde, but didn’t bother to reply to his statement. instead they wiped down the kids face, making sure there were no more wounds that needed tending too. once that was done, pooch came back around and smirked when jensen’s owlish eyes glared his way.  
“what? it had to be done.”  
“if i knew i could actually hit you with something and not miss, i would....but your just a pooch shaped blob that talks so im going to ignore you”  
the blonde turned away to look back at the chuckling cougar.  
“you suck too mi amigo so hack it up.”  
the sniper stopped laughing and bumped the man’s shoulder before asking.  
“are you hurt anywhere else?”  
jensen glared at him, but pooch interceded the glaring war.  
“dude, if your hurt we have to check it out...just answer him”  
snorting jensen replied.  
“no, im fine...is my hand bruised?”  
he held up his left hand and although a little swollen it wasn’t actually bruised. cougar told him that and the tech nodded his head.  
“okay...cool....i managed to hit a guy when they yanked me up so i wasn’t sure...he had a hard head...at least i think it was his head i hit?”  
the two men chuckled at the hacker before pooch said.  
“your all good man, take it easy for a while yeah?”  
the hacker nodded his head before sighing.  
“man...this sucks, i cant see shit...what am i supposed to do?”  
“rest amigo”   
the hacker snorted towards cougar and said.  
“that’s boring”  
the sniper shook his head as he helped pooch gather up the used supplies to get rid of. they put their med kit back together before going their separate ways. cougar to sit beside jake and pooch to go see clay and rogue to see what was up.

************

clay turned when pooch sidled up to them.  
“how is he?”  
“he’ll be fine, other than his cheek he had a nasty gash on the top of his head, that’s where all the blood was coming from. i stitched him back together. he’s alert and hasn’t had any problems bitching about his current situation so i don’t think we have to worry about head trauma.”  
clay smirked at the man before telling him.  
“good, the plan is to lay low for a day, maybe two depending on the activity around us. once we know its clear, we get out of dodge and catch a plane back to civilization.”  
“sounds good...so how are we going to lead the blind dude?”  
he gestured with his thumb behind him towards where jensen was sitting. clay smirked at that, but rogue spoke up first.  
“put a leash on him”  
pooch snorted at that remark before adding.  
“yeah you might need a muzzle if you try and do that, he could get bitey. let me know how that goes for you”  
turning back to clay he asked.  
“so the plan?”  
the co smirked at him and said.  
“rogue wasn’t too far off, were going to have to lead him out of here. he grabs a shoulder or pack and follows along. we’ll take turns so no one gets bogged down by the lengthy trek were going to do. he’s going to stumble a lot and that can cause problems for whoever is leading him. the last thing we need is someone screwing up a leg because they fall. “  
pooch nodded his head before glancing back to the hacker who was animatedly talking with cougar. smirking he muttered as he watched the pair.  
“he’s not going to like being lead around like a lost pet.”  
pooch twisted his head back around when rogue snorted and said.  
“then he shouldn’t have gotten caught in the first place and shouldn’t have broken his glasses. who doesn’t bring a spare if their that blind? its his own fault.”  
pooch sighed at the sic before looking to clay, he could tell that although clay wasn’t nearly as irritated by the man’s apparent flaws during the mission, he was still annoyed at jensen not having prepared in case his glasses were broken or lost. shaking his head he told them.  
“alright well let me know when you think we’ll be heading out, we can take that suv for as long as the tank holds out...that should help.”  
clay nodded his head at that before asking pooch.  
“did jensen say what he did with the information? if he knows where he lost it, we might be able to recover it.”  
pooch raised a brow at that before saying.  
“i thought you had it?”  
sighing, clay shook his head. rogue hollered from behind them.  
“oh hell no, if he left that shit behind im going to kill him.”  
they followed after the pissed off man to go find out what jensen had done with the sensitive information they had been sent to retrieve.  
both jensen and cougar looked up when rogue approached, but jensen pulled back at the incoming form. cougar braced his friend before saying.  
“it is rogue, he looks angry”  
“damn right i am, what the fuck did you do with all that information?”  
“uh what?”  
growling, rogue was prevented from throttling the kid by clay approaching and asking in a level tone.  
“the information you got from the computers, what did you do with it? do you remember where you dropped it?”  
the blonde blinked before he smirked.  
“oh that...yeah i didn’t drop it....here”  
he sorted through his clothing a moment before he got a hold of his belt buckle and pulled out a flash drive from inside a hidden compartment in it, where it had hidden the device behind a very ugly cartoon figure. the others just looked at him oddly, no one would think a belt buckle that ostentatious would hide something so useful. he offered the device to clay. his co took it and turned over the small device.  
“its all here?”  
“yep. safe and sound my friend. i wiped their hard drives as well..well two of them...the other one met an unfortunate fate after being shot three times.”  
the others chuckled at that. rogue finally snorted and said.  
“not bad kid”  
jensen smiled up to the rogue sized blur and said.  
“nice explosion by the way...before i lost my glasses, seeing those poor bastards freak was kinda fun.”  
rogue grinned at him, though it was obvious the kid couldn’t see it. turning to clay he jerked his head towards the kid and nodded before strolling off back to where a small pile of his knives were. pooch and cougar both smirked, jensen had just gotten the man’s approval and he didn’t even know it. clay smirked before offering the drive back to jensen.  
“put it back where you had it until were back in safe territory”  
“yes sir”  
he took it and after maneuvering it a bit closed it safely inside his belt buckle. once it was safely tucked away the hacker told clay.  
“sorry about the alarm, i really didn’t think they were smart enough to do something like that...i mean the rest of their shit was so out of date it wasn’t funny and their security codes were lame...i guess that was all a ruse. it wont happen again.”  
he said with a urgent tone. clay nodded his head.  
“we got the information and were all in one piece, though your head is only that way because of cougar and pooch...everything worked out so don’t worry about it, you’ll do better next time.”  
jensen seemed to perk up upon hearing that. with that said clay clapped pooch on the shoulder and gave him a nod. the man nodded back before clay walked away to join rogue. smirking pooch turned back to jensen and after crouching down made sure to whisper so as not to alert clay or rogue about what he was saying.  
“dude, rogue just smiled at you.”  
jensen jerked his head back before saying.  
“like in the i want to maim you sort of way? cause he has a shit ton of knives and i cant see him coming right now if he decides to do something.”  
snorting pooch said.  
“no stupid, he was impressed with you hiding the flash drive.”  
jensen tilted his head to the side at that before muttering.  
“okaaay, i don’t understand.”  
shaking his head pooch looked to cougar for some help, the sniper smirked before whispering to jensen.  
“demostro que era un activo para este equipo (you proved you were an asset to this team)”  
jake turned his head to look at cougar.  
“oh...OH.”  
they both smirked when jensen smiled.  
“cool...uh yeah that’s cool. not a problem man, would totally shoot computers again.”  
chuckling pooch shook his head at the hacker and told him.  
“get some rest, we don’t know when we’ll be able to head out tomorrow, but its going to be a long walk with you stumbling around like a zombie.”  
jensen pouted before saying.  
“your assuming i would be like the original romero zombies and not the new age 28 days later zombies that can run you down...fun fact they hired actual soccer players to do those scene’s to make the chase scene’s more intense, nothing like having a soccer player run you down in full zombie gear at top speed. i’d totally be one of those”  
he muttered at the end. snorting pooch replied.  
“if you had your glasses maybe, but how many zombies have you seen keep those when chasing down people”  
jensen pouted at that before saying.  
“do you think zombies would realize that contacts would be the smarter choice? i mean there had to be some poor bastard with his glasses off when he got bit right? i couldn’t be the only one.”  
“dude, you don’t have glasses right now and as weird as this conversation is, you are not a zombie...you sometimes look it, but your not in fact a zombie”  
jensen flipped him off, but groaned when pooch reached out and moved his hand over so that it was actually in front of him.  
“seriously?”  
chuckling pooch said chipperly.  
“there ya go, now your flipping me off.”  
“jackass”  
the hacker muttered as he lowered his hand back to his side. the transport specialist smiled at his friend before informing him and cougar.  
“i’m going to go check out the suv, see how much gas is left...we think we can use it to get further towards our evac sight before having to hike the rest of the way there with zombie jensen”  
cougar smirked and nodded at his friend, jensen replied.  
“i’d totally bite you”  
snorting pooch called over to clay to tell him what he was doing before he walked out of the camp. cougar turned to his friend and asked him.  
“estas bien? (are you alright?)”  
jensen shrugged before saying.  
“my head hurts...but i blame pooch for that one....oh and the douchebag who shoved me down the stairs...so how bloody are my clothes cause they feel a little...shall we say no bueno.”  
smirked the sniper replied honestly.  
“si”  
“awesome...okay, so would you consent to being my seeing eye cougar and take me to our tent so i can change.”  
snorting at the hacker he got up and said.  
“si, come on amigo”  
he reached down and took jensen’s hand. the hacker got to his feet, wobbling a little as he muttered.  
“being this blind fucks with your balance man...cant see the ground, or anything...okay lead the way seeing eye cougar.”  
snorting, he pulled the hacker along. they stumbled here or there as the hacker’s feet scuffed the ground he couldn’t discern. he helped the kid into their tent before asking.  
“do you need help?”  
“uh clothes...clothes would be good.”  
nodding his head he reached for the kids duffle and unzipped it. he pushed away the odd assortment of cords at the top and fished through to some clean clothes. he pulled out a bright orange shirt before shaking his head.  
“i can see orange something...oh hey is that-”  
“you cannot wear this amigo...people will see you”  
“pft, im already a sitting duck dude. the orange shirt ain’t going to do anything but make sure they actually hit me.”  
glaring at his friend despite the hacker not being able to see it, he pushed the shirt back into the duffle and looked for something else.  
“hey i like that shirt.”  
cougar snorted at that, before fishing out a dark green shirt. he nodded his head at it before setting it aside to find a clean pair of pants for the man. he added a pair of denim pants to the pile before sighing and asking.  
“how is your underwear?”  
“i didn’t piss myself dude”  
snorting cougar asked.  
“your pants are bloody, do they feel damp too?”  
“oh..um no, think were good there. sorry”  
nodding his head he zipped up the kids duffle before separating the pants and shirt, he tugged the man over before showing him where the shirt and pants were laid out. jensen nodded his head.  
“cool thanks man...i got it from here.”  
“si, i will wait outside”  
“thanks”  
“de nada ( your welcome)”  
cougar stepped out of the tent and waited, he heard the man rustling about a little muffled cursing which he smirked at before the tent fell silent. he waited a moment before asking.  
“jensen?”  
“hmm, im fine...stupid boots....”  
sighing he had forgotten the man’s laced boots.   
“do you need help?”  
“nope, i will take this foe myself”  
snorting the sniper waited. he shook his head when the kid cried out as he threw a shoe with a thump.  
“ha ha take that you lacey bastard.”  
a while later another thump was heard signaling that the blonde was free of his boots. cougar continued to listen to the assortment of sounds from within their tent, listening for any sign of his friend needing his help. another five minutes passed before jensen said.  
“i think this shirt is ruined...how do you get this much blood out of a shirt? is it doable?”  
shaking his head the sniper asked.  
“are you dressed?”  
“hmm oh yeah, my modesty is protected don’t worry.”  
shaking his head he ducked back into their tent and snorted. the man was holding up his clearly ruined shirt and peering at it, trying to figure out how bad off it really was with his bad eyesight. however it wasn’t just that sight that amused the sniper. jensen’s shirt was backwards. sighing the sniper told his friend.  
“your shirt”  
“i know man, i liked this one too...well i like all my shirts, no matter what rogue says. that man has no fashion sense i tell you.”  
shaking his head the sniper walked over and tugged on the sleeve of the one he was wearing.  
“huh? what, did i get blood on it?”  
“no amigo, it is backwards”  
“oh....damn it...okay”  
the man dropped the ruined shirt before struggling with the one he was wearing, pulling his arms out of the sleeves to twist the shirt around before popping them back through the right way. he looked up and asked.  
“better?”  
“si”  
nodding the hacker glanced down to where he had thrown the bloody shirt and sighed.  
“i cant see it”  
shaking his head, cougar leaned over and picked up the shirt, putting it back into the hackers hand.  
“thanks...your good at this ya know, you should sideline as a seeing eye cougar...i bet you’d make a killing.”  
the sniper smirked at him before quipping.  
“i already do”  
the hacker laughed, it wasn’t often that the sniper cracked a joke, but when he did it was normally worth it.  
“that...that was awesome man.”  
cougar chuckled at his friends amusement before asking.  
“are you done?”  
“yeah, do you think they’d think i was crazy if i held a ceremony for this fallen shirt? it died in service to its country.”  
“si”  
“oh well then, can you shove it in my duffle”  
smirking cougar took the shirt and after unzipping the duffle bag, he shoved the messy shirt inside before zipping it closed once more. he turned around to see the hacker reaching around their tent blindly, raising a brow he asked.  
“que? (what?)”  
“boots...come out come out where ever you are you lacey bastards...”  
snorting the sniper reached over and snatched up a boot and threw it at the hacker, jensen yelped before crying out.  
“hey it listened to me.”  
snorting cougar replied.  
“idiota”  
“i know its awesome isn’t it, can you imagine if we could make our stuff smart enough to respond to voice commands, that would be awesome...never lose my damn glasses that’s for sure.”  
smirking cougar found the other boot before returning to the man’s side, he knelt down beside his friend and waited patiently. jensen was making a mess of his laces, but the sniper wouldn’t intrude unless asked. it took a while, but finally the hacker sighed and said.  
“okay, i either braided them or their in so many knots that a prisoner of war wouldn’t be able to escape them. which is it?”  
“knots”  
“damn”  
smirking cougar waited, sure enough the blonde sighed and after leaning back on his elbows gestured towards his feet with a hand.  
“well i managed the shirt and pants...two out of three ain’t bad right? do you mind?”  
shaking his head he replied.  
“no”  
“thanks”  
the sniper helped his friend tie his laces, undoing the damage he had caused to them before lacing them up properly. once he was done with one, they got his other foot shoved into the other boot before cougar laced it up. once he was done he patted the man’s foot.  
“done”  
“thanks, alright seeing eye cougar. take me away”  
the blonde said as he climbed to his feet and held out an arm. snorting the cougar took his friends hand and lead him from their tent. he moved the man over towards their rekindled fire and sat him down against a boulder. he left him a moment to snatch up a canteen before joining the man, he uncapped the canteen and took a swig of the water before grabbing jensen’s hand and pushing the canteen into it.  
“its open”  
“awesome”  
the blonde took a drink of the stale water before letting cougar take the container back to seal it up properly. the pair sat in silence a moment before like clock work he blonde spoke up.  
“so...when you shot that guy, did you really get his heart?”  
“si”  
“damn...what about the other ones? i thought i heard another shot from a rifle”  
“another reached for you...i shot his neck.”  
“oh like in his spine?”  
“si”  
“well thanks for that, i had no desire to play hostage any longer. they were all hands man and not in a good way.”  
he made a motion with his hand, grabbing the air. cougar smirked at his friend. only jensen could see something funny in being taken hostage. he glanced over a crossed the fire when both clay and rogue joined them. clay nodded to him in greeting, the sniper returned it. rogue stared at jensen a moment before asking cougar.  
“you dress him too?”  
cougar scowled at the sic, but jensen replied tactful as ever.  
“no he did not, im a big boy...he just tied my laces for me.”  
rogue laughed at that, cougar shook his head. sometimes he wondered about the man, how could someone so smart say something so stupid. rogue calmed himself before commenting.  
“did he give you a gold star too?”  
jensen tilted his head before looking towards the cougar sized blob.  
“dude where’s my sticker, you holding out on me?”  
“idiota”  
smirking the blonde looked back a crossed the fire, though he was clearly a little off as he ‘stared’ at rogue. the sic smirked at that.  
“my sister didn’t do that when we were growing up...normally she had to bribe me to behave so the whole reward thing was a little skewed...she once had to admit to my principle that she had paid me fifty bucks because she had only been called twice that week about me.”  
snorting rogue asked.  
“i would have killed you, how did she put up with you.”  
“and that is why i pray you never have kids...she managed. it wasn’t easy, that’s for sure, but even my-issues aside, we had enough problems without some of the shit i laid on her. she says now looking back i was kinda like boot camp for her, beth had nothing on me so nothing fazes sarah anymore...poor kid cant even shock her own mom.”  
shaking his head rogue muttered back.  
“trust me i don’t want kids...i hope you don’t reproduce either.”  
jensen placed his hand on his chest as if he had just been wounded before crying out.  
“oh but rogue i was going to name you their godfather...think of all the things you could teach the little one’s. knives 101, sharpening skills, how to eviscerate your neighbor in ten easy steps...so much potential.”  
cougar chuckled, even clay gave a laugh at that, rogue snorted at him.  
“i’ll eviscerate you”  
the blonde shook his head before saying.  
“no you wont, im too valuable...do you really want to have to find new and inventive ways to hide a flash drive? cause i can tell you some pretty bad options if you’d like. best just leave it me.”  
he smirked in the man’s direction. rogue rolled his eyes back at the blonde. they all glanced over when pooch came jogging into the campsite, no one bothering to raise a gun as the man had yelled out.  
“don’t shoot the pooch”  
before he came around the rocks. jensen laughed at that before saying.  
“that’s great, that should be your modo”  
the man snorted at his friend before blinking as he realized that jensen was no longer in bloody clothes. he smirked at cougar who frowned at him. shaking his head pooch turned his attention to clay and said.  
“well we got 3/4 tank of gas, it could get us at least half way there.”  
“good, no sign of any of our friends?”  
snorting pooch shook his head.  
“no, no sign of them near the suv or near our campsite. i scouted a bit. there’s been some movement out there that’s for sure, but i don’t think were going to run a crossed anyone. the smoke is cutting out from the warehouse fire, so either they put it out or its running out of fuel to burn.”  
nodding his head, clay told them.  
“we keep our eyes peeled, it would be too easy for someone to stumble upon us. their going to be looking for whoever did it. they’ve no doubt already called for backup so its only a matter of time before this whole area is compromised...we move out tomorrow.”  
the group nodded their heads, but jensen raised his hand. clay smirked and said.  
“yes jensen?”  
“uh...am i just playing follow the leader? cause i cant guarantee that i wont wander off otherwise.”  
smirking clay said.  
“someone is going to be leading you around. either by holding onto you or you holding onto them or their pack. you wont be wandering off anywhere.”  
“alright....so one other thing”  
nodding his head clay told the man to continue, so jensen did.  
“as much as i’d love to help with watch tonight...i think i wouldn’t be of much help...ya know what with the whole being nearly blind thing...i don’t think you guys want to take the chance of me shooting one of you just because you get up to take a piss in the middle of the night.”  
chuckling pooch said.  
“trust me, we are not letting you shoot us just because we need to take a piss.”  
jensen grinned in pooch’s direction before turning back to clay as the man said.  
“your right, you wont be helping with watch tonight. it also might be a good idea for you not to be allowed a gun until we leave tomorrow.”  
jensen pouted before saying.  
“hey, so long as you say stuff like ‘don’t shoot the pooch’ i ain’t gonna shoot. now you start hollering in arabic, i might let a couple rounds go off.”  
smirking clay looked to both pooch and cougar and told them flatly.  
“don’t let him shoot at anything, unless its actually a threat.”  
“yes sir”  
they replied. jensen snorted before saying.  
“he is right here ya know.”  
clay shook his head at the hacker before looking towards an amused rogue to say.  
“we’ll get most of the gear together tonight, it’ll make moving out tomorrow faster.”  
the sic nodded his head before asking pooch.  
“how close can that suv get to here with all the rocks?”  
“about twenty yards or so.”  
the man nodded his head, it was better than carrying all the gear on their backs like they’d done when they first arrived. with their plan set, pooch asked.  
“whose ready for dinner?”  
jensen snorted before saying.  
“if you try to feed me anything that’s not on the jensen approved list or is otherwise no bueno, i will hurt you in the worst ways possible capiche?”  
smirking at the man’s usage of two different languages to get his point a crossed pooch replied.  
“oh and what did you have in mind? cause i don’t thi-”  
“dude i can and will find every possible embarrassing video of you in the world...the camera’s are everywhere dude, everywhere.”  
snorting the transport specialist went to go grab their meals when jensen called out.  
“everywhere man”  
“shut it jensen”  
the hacker laughed before ribbing cougar and saying.  
“i found a video of him from basic...think jo would like it?”  
cougar’s eyes widened at that before he chuckled and asked.  
“ sabe que lo tienes? ( does he know you have that?)”  
jensen smirked at him knowingly. shaking his head the sniper looked over to pooch as the man gathered up their mre’s.   
“lo siento mi amigo ( im sorry my friend)”  
jensen chuckled at that before saying.  
“relax, its not as bad as the footage i found on mr. cuchillo feliz ( knife happy) over there.”  
cougar looked at him with a frown before asking.  
“que todo lo que has encontrado en nosotros ( what all have you found on us?)”  
the hacker shrugged before saying.  
“a little of this a little of that...clay was actually kind of cute as a kid.”  
the sniper just stared at his friend a moment before saying.  
“he will not like that”  
the hacker waved at him.  
“relax cougs, not like im emailing it to the brass or all the registered e-mail accounts for on base personnel. i was bored so i search things...oh which reminds me, when did you get that hat cause i cant seem to find a single damn picture of you without it.”  
the sniper chuckled at his friend before saying back.  
“since birth”  
“ha ha smart ass. i’ll figure it out just you wait and see.”  
nodding his head he turned and accepted his mre from pooch, the transport specialist handed one over to jensen before saying.  
“its edible...though i think the army is forced to say that.”  
jensen laughed at that and saluted the man with his packaged meal. pooch passed out the other packages to clay and rogue before finding a seat for himself. the whole group frowned when pooch waved at them and made a motion to wait. he pointed to jensen and they watched the man tear off the corner of a package before taking some of the food he pushed through the hole he’d made with his teeth. only to sputter and cry out.  
“god damn it pooch, what did i just say man? im gonna kill you man...why the fuck would you give me peas..you know the green beady bastards are toxic to my soul.”  
pooch laughed loudly as the others shook their heads at the prank pooch had just pulled on their nearly blind teammate. cougar shook his head before taking the package from jensen and handing over his own.  
“what is it?”  
the blond asked as he stared down to the new package in suspicion.  
“carrots”  
“hey maybe that will help your eyes”  
pooch cried out in laughter. jensen scowled at the pooch shaped blur before turning to cougar and saying.  
“please help me flip him off.”  
the sniper snorted before moving the kids hand towards pooch who was nearly rolling in laughter now. the others were chuckling as jensen put his hand back down to tear into the package before taking a bite. he hmm’d with approval before digging into the mush. cougar shook his head as he ate the traded peas he’d gotten from jensen.

after a very entertaining dinner together and some light bantering amongst each other, they settled in for their normal watch routine. the sun had long since fallen from the sky and the temperature was plummeting fast.  
“rogue your up first, the rest of you hit the sack.”  
they all nodded, well aware of their own duties to the camp that night. cougar lead jensen back to their tent. the blonde didn’t bother to change his clothes.  
“not worth it, i’ll sleep in my boots...i’ve had worse and at least this way you wont have to dress me again”  
the man snorted towards the sniper. cougar sighed before saying.  
“i do not mind helping you amigo”  
jensen nodded his head as he slumped into his bedroll.  
“still embarrassing. dude...when’s your watch?”  
“i am third”  
“i can help”  
cougar shook his head before responding as he realized that the blonde couldn’t see him in the darkness.  
“no, tomorrow is going to be long, you will be tired amigo”  
jensen huffed at that as he stated.  
“im not a baby, i’ve dealt with sleep deprivation before ya know”  
“si”  
nodding his head the hacker said.  
“fine, i wont wake up and keep you company...may you be increasingly bored tonight”  
snorting the sniper settled into his own bedroll and said.  
“buenas noches mi amigo”  
“yeah yeah, night cougs”  
the sniper smirked at the man’s nickname of his nickname.


	8. blind as a bat, but still able to count

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the losers are about to head back towards their pick up site, when trouble finds them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im not going to apologize for this chapter...im not. that said, there is some whumpage on top of the whumpage from last chapter on poor jensen...so yeah. not sorry.

jake startled a little when someone shook him, he turned over blearily and yawned.  
“nuh uh you said you didn’t want the help of a blind dude.”  
he heard the snort from the sniper before the man muttered to him.  
“its morning”  
the blonde blinked up at the bleary cougar shaped blob and said.  
“huh...oh well then, that changes things.”  
cougar shook his head at his friend and watched in rapt amusement as the kid disentangled himself from his bedroll. once he had managed to kick the blankets away all while muttering about evil tentacley blankets from hell, he got to his feet.   
“okay, whats the plan my man?”  
rolling his eyes, the sniper said.  
“i will take you outside. you are to stay in camp while we break it down.”  
the blonde pouted at that.  
“oh come on, i can still do stuff.”  
the sniper shook his head before saying.  
“clay’s orders mi amigo.”  
the blonde huffed before letting the man lead him out of their tent. cougar had been right of course, the sun was up already and if the temperature was any indication on how the day was going to go. it was going to be hot. the blonde collapsed against a boulder and threw his arms over his chest like a pouting two year old. cougar didn’t bother to comment on that, instead choosing to ask.  
“you good amigo?”  
“peachy keen...i’ll sit here and bemoan the fact that i cant see shit and that today is going to suck ass.”  
smirking the sniper patted his friend on the shoulder before heading back to pack up their gear before he and pooch took down the tents. the group milled around the sitting figure, occasionally chuckling depending on his sarcastic replies to if he was doing alright. even rogue managed to crack a smile when the kid retorted to clay in such a way. the co had just rolled his eyes before heading off to his next task. with their gear in a pile and packs set, pooch left to bring the suv as close as possible without getting it stuck in the rocky terrain. jensen had climbed to his feet shortly there after to ask.  
“so am i allowed to carry things or am i a limpet too?”  
snorting clay replied.  
“you can carry things jensen, just don’t wander off.”  
the hacker snorted before gesturing towards the formidable form of rogue.  
“even if i lose sight of your candy white ass...he sticks out in my blurry vision...he’s huge and does not blend in with the terrain.”  
rogue snorted at that, a smirk tilting his lips. cougar chuckled as clay sighed before muttering.  
“just don’t wander off, i don’t care who you follow after or why, if we have to go play hide and seek with you. im not going to be happy.”  
the hacker snorted back at him before saying.  
“you think i want to wander off into some drug peddlers basement because im too damn blind to tell if its you im following or some douchebag leading me to his creepy white van with candy?”  
rogue and cougar chuckled as clay gave the hacker an ill impressed look for all the good it did him as rogue reminded him.  
“he cant see you glaring at him”  
jensen nodded his head at that.  
“go for it man, to me your just a oddly shaped blobby thing with a mismatch of colors which im hoping are clothes because if your walking around naked just to fuck with me, i will shoot.”  
rogue snorted before telling the kid.  
“he’s wearing clothes dumb ass. who wants to trek through a dessert buck ass naked?”  
jensen shrugged his head at that and then got a funny look on his face. rogue snorted before saying.  
“your actually thinking up people you think would want to do that aren’t you?”  
the blonde man smirked in his direction, cougar shook his head and patted the tech on the shoulder.  
“come amigo, pooch is back. time to go”  
the transport specialist had just ran into their broken down campsite and given the thumbs up.  
“lets move, there were some track’s i saw on my way here. don’t know where they are, but lets not stick around to find out yeah?”  
they all nodded and after loading up their gear on their backs, began the slow trek towards the vehicle. jensen had grabbed a hold of cougar’s backpack and was stumbling along behind the man. rogue was taking up the back of the group, making sure there was enough distance between him and the stumbling blonde as he didn’t wish to join the two men when they tripped, which the sic was sure to happen any time now. the members of the group who could actually see had their hand gun’s out and waiting just in case they came a crossed anyone holding a grudge.  
they had just made it to the quiet vehicle, when clay held up his hand. they all hunkered down a moment before the man shook his head and got back up.  
“come on...were good.”  
nodding they followed after the man and quickly began putting their gear away. jensen was leaning against the vehicle, watching the blurry figures go back and forth from the pile of gear to the back of the vehicle to store the stuff, when he tilted his head. inwardly he was counting....1....2...3...4...5...6....shit. there were two extra blobs in his vision that definitely weren’t supposed to be there. he lunged forward to warn his teammates. pushing one of them down as he hollered.  
“DOWN!”  
a gunshot rang out just as he shoved the figure to the ground, jensen jerked back and collapsed and then all chaos broke out. rogue righted himself from where the kid had shoved him down, twisting around after hearing the gunshot. his eyes widened at the sight of the blonde laying in a growing pool of blood haloing his head. a head shot. the kid wasn’t moving. growling he spun around and joined his team in shooting back at the bastards who had just killed his teammate.  
the haze of bullets that went around and pinged off of the vehicle they ducked behind, rogue and cougar finding shelter behind some higher rocks as they traded bullets with the small group of peddlers. the two who originally began the altercation, were better fortified than the other idiots with them. three men were already down, a fourth was soon taken care of by clay. before the co could shout out orders, rogue broke from the group, shooting one of the original instigators in the leg before bashing his fist into the man’s skull and dropping him like a stone. the last man was frantically trying to unjam his weapon, but never got another shot off before one of rogue’s blades was shoved through his chest forcefully. the man gargled a moment before rogue kicked him off the blade. he wiped it on the dead man’s shirt before turning around and putting a final bullet in the other downed man. he sauntered back to his tense teammates, but not a word was said at his rash behavior.  
“holy shit”  
they turned to see pooch kneeling beside the still form of jensen. rogue twisted his head away from the sight of the blonde laying in a halo of his own blood.  
“idiot pushed me down...didn’t even duck himself before he took one to the head.”  
before clay or cougar could say anything about that, pooch laughed. they all spun around glaring at the man for his coldness in the situation, but gaped when they heard the man say.  
“you are one lucky son of a bitch jake jensen.”  
they ran over at that, pooch looked up and smiled. cougar knelt down beside his friend, frowning at the sight of all the blood. he reached out with shaking fingers to see where the bullet had hit, if pooch said he wasn’t dead, he believed him, but there was still a lot of blood. pooch punched his shoulder forcing him back a step.  
“he ain’t going to like you touching it...bullet went straight through his scalp man...probably didn’t even go deep enough to scar his skull, but it did manage to rip his stitches open..”  
cougar looked up to pooch before letting the man gently show him the source of all the blood. just as pooch had said, there was a small entry wound just slight of jensen’s original wound. the stitches were all torn out.  
“where’s the bullet? is it still in his head?”  
clay barked out quickly, pooch leaned forward to see if he could see the bullet in the wound before shaking his head as he looked back up to his co.  
“don’t see it, i really don’t want to dig around in there dude...he’s tore up enough as it is...”  
clay shook his head at the man.  
“we cant leave it in there, your going to have to stitch him back up anyhow.”  
before the two could argue anymore about what needed to be done, cougar tilted his head and reached forward, his fingers dipping into the pool of blood beside his friends head. pooch made a face at that.  
“dude what the-”  
cougar held up his index finger and thumb, a small mangled bullet held between them. pooch smirked.  
“good find dude...okay bullets out”  
clay snorted at that when the transport specialist reported it to him to chipperly. turning to his sic, he was surprised to see the man watching jensen closely. he figured that the already conflicted man was having to reevaluate his concerns about the blonde hacker. jensen had inadvertently fucked their mission, been taken hostage which had endangered the rest of the team in order for him to be rescued, but he had also attained all the information he could, destroyed the remaining computers and hidden the flash drive from the drug peddlers before being taken down. just now, he’d put his life on the line for the normally angry man. rogue hadn’t bonded with the hacker like cougar or pooch, he wasn’t even remotely friendly on a daily basis with the kid. now he had to deal with the fact that the same kid he threatened to kill daily, nearly died to save his life. clay gave the man a moment to just focus himself as they stared at pooch and cougar who were talking about what to do with the blonde. after a few moments had passed clay told the man quietly.  
“wasn’t that the blade you won from jensen?”  
rogue glared at him before looking down to the curved blade still in his hand. clay was right, it was the very same blade he’d won off the kid before the whole shit storm happened. the blade he’d just used to get some fashion of ‘revenge’ for the kid’s apparent death. sighing rogue looked to his co and said.  
“not a word clay or i swear-”  
“he’s going to be fine you know...lucky shot that was, come on lets get the gear sorted while they figure out what to do with our hacker.”  
rogue glared a moment longer before nodding his head and moving to start finishing the load up of the vehicle.  
pooch gently tilted jensen’s head over to get a better look of the wound site. snorting he said.  
“well he’s not going to be a happy camper that’s for sure...might as well move him from all this blood and get him cleaned up”  
“si”  
the sniper and him managed to drag the hacker into a cleaner area. pooch didn’t say a word when the sniper let jensen’s body lean against him to put him in a better position for pooch to doctor. they were all shaken by what had just happened. the kid could have been dead, a shot to the head didn’t normally end so well. pooch got to his feet and ran over to clay and rogue, the two men looked up both obviously fearing something else was wrong.  
“need the med kit...he’s gonna need some more stitches.”  
the two men relaxed at that and nodded. clay handing the kit over, rogue also handed a canteen to the man. pooch waved at them with it before jogging back over to where cougar was holding jensen. the blonde man hadn’t stirred yet and the sniper was whispering things in spanish that pooch didn’t understand. the bald man left it alone as he tore into some packages to get at the sealed sterile cloths enclosed within. he poured some water on one before reaching for the kids bloody head. shaking his own as he began to clear the blood away he muttered.  
“its still bleeding like a bitch...here hold this for me cougs”  
the sniper nodded and held the makeshift bandage to the kids head while pooch got out some suturing scissors.  
“gotta get those other one’s out before i can put new one’s in...this is going to be messy if he keeps bleeding like that, not to mention he’s gonna start feeling the blood loss if we don’t get this handled.  
“si”  
used to the man’s one word responses, pooch didn’t take it to heart as he nodded for the man to move the bandage away, they started a slow progress of pooch removing a few torn stitches before cougar put the bandage in place to sop up some of the blood and to clear the area for pooch to be able to see what he was doing. this continued until all the stitches were removed. both their hands were distinctly red as they worked, pooch’s more so than cougars as he was actually dipping his finger’s into the kid’s wound site to clear it of any threads left behind. nodding his head when it was clear, he lifted the canteen and poured a little water to clear away some of the blood. it slowed the bleeding for a moment, giving him a chance to see what he was working with. pooch nodded to cougar and the man put a new bandage to the kids head to hold the wound while pooch readied the suturing kit. cougar tossed the saturated cloth to the ground before turning his attention back to pooch who was now ready to start stitching up the blonde.   
he had just finished the fifth stitch when clay and rogue sidled over, their co telling them that the suv was loaded and that they could go when they were done with jensen.  
“okay...might be a minute...he’s bleeding like crazy, damn head wounds...makes this harder than it needs to be.”  
as he said that, cougar pulled the makeshift bandage back further so pooch could continue working. the two men winced at the sight of the open wound and all the blood flowing down the kids head, but pooch didn’t seem bothered by it, he was focused on his task. they watched the man nod to cougar and the sniper pressed the bandage back down to slow the bleeding and clear the site for pooch. a moment later they started back up again. watching this go on a minute clay asked.  
“how much has he lost?”  
“fair amount, he’s liable to be light headed, but he’s not in any danger so long as we get it to stop. the sutures should do the trick though.”  
nodding his head clay told them to keep up the good work. he jerked his head for rogue to follow him, the large man did so and once they were a few paces away from their working teammates did clay say.  
“our evac is in three days, its going to take us nearly all of that time to get there if we have to carry jensen and the gear, we need to pair down.”  
nodding his head, rogue moved with clay to go through their gear in the back of the suv, finding which things could be tossed to lighten their load.  
he was tying another stitch when the body he was working on groaned and twitched a little smirking pooch looked up to cougar and said.  
“hope he stays out till im finished, really don’t want to deal with all his bitching.”  
the sniper smirked back at him for the fist time since they’d started working on jensen and nodded. two stitches later and they had their answer on whether or not the man was going to be a problem. the blondes hand came up violently and hit pooch in a shoving motion. pooch grit his teeth, but didn’t fall over at the harsh shove, instead he abandoned the stitch he was doing and reached down to capture the kids flailing hand.  
“dude, knock it off, its me”  
the blonde continued to struggle. his other hand scrambled against the ground a moment before it reached towards pooch. cougar grabbed it in his free hand and shoved it back down to the ground as he whispered into the man’s ear.  
“ssssssh amigo estas a salvo (my friend you are safe)”  
jensen groaned again as he tugged futily against cougar and pooch’s grasp. sighing pooch called out.  
“a little help here”  
both clay and rogue ran over to see what the problem was, the two men knelt down and took over the burden of wrangling the kids limbs so that cougar and pooch could get back to work on him.  
“easy corporal, pooch is just stitching you up.”  
jensen didn’t seem to place that clay was talking to him let alone what was being said. shaking his head rogue muttered.  
“he’s out of it clay, you might as well be speaking german to the kid”  
clay snorted before off handily commenting.  
“he knows german”  
rogue rolled his eyes at his co, before glaring down at the kid as he said.  
“knock it off kid, i ain’t letting you up.”  
the blonde was pulling at his arms, trying to get himself free. his legs were beginning to start to move a little as well. both clay and rogue shared a look between each other. if the kid started bucking, it was going to make pooch’s job nearly impossible. the bald man didn’t seem to be paying any attention to what was going on around him as he tied off another stitch. he nodded and cougar put the nearly saturated cloth back to jensen’s head to wipe away the fresh blood. shaking his head the sniper looked to pooch, the man sighed.  
“almost done, maybe ten...twelve more at the most”  
the sniper nodded his head and moved the cloth aside for the man to get back to work. three stitches later and the kid started bucking, his head beginning to jerk. cougar gritted his teeth, before putting the kids head between his knee’s to hold it steady. pooch nodded his thanks, as he grunted upon being jerked around as he straddled the kids chest.  
“like a friggin bull man...”  
the others snorted at that before clay asked.  
“can you finish it?”  
“yeah yeah...not gonna be dainty little stitches, but they’ll get the job done.”  
“good”  
the man muttered as he held down the kids struggling arm and leg. he and rogue had stretched themselves out and were now holding the hackers wrists and pushing down on his thighs to limit his mobility in bucking pooch off of him. so far the kid had done nothing but moan, no words coming from him as he fought against them.  
pooch knotted another stitch as he struggled to stay balanced above his teammate.  
“dude we are getting you a helmet...i am not doing this again”  
the others chuckled at that, cougar chiming in.  
“he will forget it”  
smirking pooch glanced to the sniper and said.  
“i will glue that sucker to his head man...i am not doing this again, if i wanted to ride a bull i’d do it in the bar.”  
chuckling the others watched the man complete another stitch, cougar pressing the cloth down, but once he did that, blood seeped from beneath it. sighing he muttered.  
“we need more”  
nodding pooch reached over and got another package, tearing it open with his teeth as his hands were too slippery with blood to mess with it properly. he tugged the cloth free and handed it too cougar who threw the used one away before pressing the clean cloth down on the blondes head. the blood was soaked up and they were allowed to continue. they all stilled when jensen’s confused voice mumbled out.  
“g-et--get of-fff”  
smirking pooch looked down to see the blonde’s eyes fluttering a bit.  
“not yet dude, almost done. you hold tight and stop jerking me around”  
the blonde frowned, obviously not comprehending pooch’s orders. the transport specialist ignored his thrashing teammate, knowing that if the blonde was in his right mind he’d be bitching instead of fighting against them. the kid grunted when cougar put the cloth once more to his head to soak up the blood, cougar gave a sad look down to his friends head before muttering.  
“lo siento mi amigo (im sorry my friend)”  
the blonde’s head moved again as pooch grit his teeth and said.  
“hold still”  
the blonde stilled at that before he managed to say in a very confused voice.  
“pooch?”  
smirking the man said.  
“yes dumbass, who’d you think was sitting on your chest?”  
the blonde was silent at his question, not that pooch required an answer as he was busily tying off another stitch in the kids bleeding head. the blonde hissed suddenly before saying.  
“ow”  
the others chuckled at that, before pooch said.  
“no shit ow, lucky bastard is what you are man...almost done.”  
the blonde was alternating between blinking his eyes open a little to letting them droop closed. clay took notice of the kid’s inability to keep his eyes open and frowned.  
“you alright corporal?”  
pooch snorted at that question, but didn’t bother to say anything. clay ignored him as he waited for jensen to reply if he could. the blonde mumbled out.  
“dizzy”  
sighing clay nodded his head.  
“you’ve lost some blood kid, hold tight. once pooch’s done with your head we can start you on some water, help you stay hydrated so you can recoup.”  
the blonde didn’t respond to his co’s promise of water, instead choosing to ask confusedly.  
“wha’s wrong with my head?”  
the group chuckled at him as pooch replied.  
“dude...what’d you think i was doing up here? you tore your stitches...well more accurately the bullet tore your stitches out.”  
“huh? wha bullet?”  
shaking his head pooch muttered.  
“don’t worry about it. just hold still, two more.”  
the kid sighed before saying.  
“my head hurts”  
snorting rogue replied.  
“no shit, who would have thought taking a bullet to the head and having it rip out all your stitches would hurt?”  
the blonde’s eyes opened a bit, but couldn’t track the sic. so the hacker mumbled out.  
“hey, hey rogue, its you.”  
rolling his eyes at the blondes inability to track a conversation, rogue muttered.  
“ yes jensen it me. very good you can figure out when im talking to you. were apparently making progress if you can figure that out.”  
the blonde scrunched up his face before saying.  
“im not stupid”  
snorting the sic prevented from saying anything when pooch cried out.  
“all done, let us wipe you down kid. your covered and i want to wrap your head this time...i think you might leak for a little while longer.”  
jensen nodded his head even though he wasn’t supposed to move as stated by cougar. the man tilted his head back before smiling.  
“hey cougar, look guys its cougar...whatcha doin?”  
shaking his head the sniper said.  
“hold still amigo”  
the blonde nodded his head, until the sniper reached down and held it still for pooch who was chuckling as he began to wipe down the kids face. he was no longer fighting back, so clay and rogue had released his arms and legs. only to take his wrists back when he kept trying to reach up to ‘help’ pooch. the transport specialist shook his head as the blonde pouted about not being allowed to help him.  
“chill dude, you can help me later okay?”  
“okay”  
the man replied more subdued after being given the option. looking to cougar the bald man muttered.  
“its gonna be a long way home.”  
“si”  
smirking the group banded together to get the kid back together. clay and rogue keeping his hands from wandering. cougar holding the kid’s head still and pooch cleaning the blood and tending to the stitches. once it was done, pooch turned to clay and said.  
“alright, bandage time...he ain’t going to leave this alone otherwise.”  
their co smirked at him before reaching for a packet of gauze wrap. the transport specialist tore the edge off before beginning to wind the airy cloth around the small bandage over the stitches. it didn’t take long before jensen’s head was properly wrapped and pooch gave him the all clear.  
“alright, all done. lets get you in the car alright?”  
the blonde smiled up at him.  
“sure, i like cars...much better than planes.”  
he muttered as an after thought. snorting, the group got the kid to his feet, he wobbled and fell backwards against cougar’s chest, the sniper wrapped his arms around the man’s chest to keep him steady. rogue snorted before saying.  
“yeah he’s got his legs about him alright.”  
shaking his head, pooch stepped forward and helped the sniper to move jensen towards the suv,where clay held the door waiting for them.  
“alright duck your head jensen.”  
“Huh?”   
snorting, pooch and cougar put their hands on the kids head and tucked it down so he wouldn’t hit it on the car roof as they pushed him inside. once he was on the seat, they got him scooted over towards the window. pooch moved one of their bedrolls over between the kid and the window as a makeshift pillow. he glanced to cougar to ask.  
“you got him?”  
“si”  
nodding pooch left the sniper in charge of their friend as he hopped back out of the suv. clay and rogue had already cleaned up their supplies, throwing the rest in the back. their co shook his head after looking into the back of the suv, where cougar was presently trying to buckle the hacker in.  
“he’ll be alright, just a tad confused right now.”  
“he’s always confused”  
rogue butted in. pooch smirked at the man before telling clay.  
“we should get going, if one group came out this far-”  
the co nodded his head before cutting the man off.  
“yeah, we need to head out. its a long way towards our evac site, if the suv only gets us halfway its going to be an even longer trip with jensen the way he is.”  
pooch nodded his head as he glanced into the suv, cougar was shaking his head at something jake had said, the blonde’s hands being forced back down as he was about to hit the sniper in his wildly animated gestures.  
“he’s going to be a handful...well up for a road trip?”  
rogue and clay snorted at pooch before they climbed into the suv. rogue on the other side of cougar, clay in the passenger side of the front. pooch got into the drivers seat and started the car. he paused before turning around to glare at jensen who was jerking around, his feet occasionally kicking pooch’s seat.  
“im only going to say this once, he keeps kicking my seat...i’m letting rogue tie him to the roof.”  
the sic smirked before he leaned forward to glance at the blonde who was staring at pooch in a funny way.   
“i got plenty of rope kid, settle down.”  
the blonde glanced his way before blinking a lot. sighing cougar said.  
“he cant see either of you”  
rogue snorted before sitting back in his seat. the darkened interior was sure to mess with whatever limited vision the kid did have and that was before he took another header. pooch rolled his eyes before turning back around.  
“i mean it jensen, don’t kick my seat.”  
the blonde looked to where he knew cougar to be as the man was still holding his arms down.  
“we going home?”  
“si”  
“okay...don’t tell sarah i let myself get shot in the head...i don’t think she’d let me explain that one.”  
the sniper snorted at his friend’s developing sense of clarity. pooch chuckled as he pushed on the gas to get them moving.  
“yeah somehow i don’t think your sister would see the silver lining in losing your glasses, getting your head bashed in and then getting shot in the head.”  
the blonde pouted at that before muttering.  
“you make it sound worse than it is”  
the whole car snorted at that, startling the blonde who huffed and settled into his makeshift pillow. tucking his hands into his chest as cougar had finally released them.

**********************************

the ride through the increasingly hot dessert wasn’t fun by any means, it was sweltering in the car, even with the window’s open. jensen had been resting silently against the makeshift pillow. occasionally, clay would ask cougar to wake him to make sure he wasn’t having any symptoms of a concussion, but it appeared they were in the clear for that. just as pooch had said, the bullet only skimmed his head, it did some damage, but it was really all superficial. if it wasn’t for the fact that head wounds bleed way more than they should, they wouldn’t have had any problems. the blonde was tired and groggy each time they woke him, but he came alert after a minute or two. when asked how he felt he complained of his head hurting and being dizzy. normal symptoms for a gash being sutured in the field and some blood loss. so they left him to rest the rest of the way towards their evac point. it was a couple hours later that pooch chimed up.  
“were running low on gas...maybe another ten miles in this thing.”  
clay nodded his head before glancing back behind them. jensen was out cold, cougar had his hat down over his eyes as usual and rogue was looking out the window, or was until he took notice of clay turning around.  
“according to our map, if we make it another ten miles like pooch said, were going to have a long hike there.”  
nodding his head the sic jerked his thumb over towards the sleeping form of jensen.  
“gonna be a long walk for him”  
clay nodded his head, not bothering to glance towards the hacker.  
“nothing for it. he can rest when we get on the plane”  
pooch snorted at that before saying  
“or not...you know he hates planes.”  
clay smirked before saying.  
“he might not care all that much after a long hike through the heat with a head wound and blood loss.”  
pooch considered that a moment before shrugging his shoulders. nodding his head clay turned his attention back to rogue and warned him.  
“if the worst happens, we ditch some gear and carry him.”  
rogue snorted before saying.  
“you mean i carry him, im the biggest out of all you, the least likely to falter in carrying his sorry ass.”  
clay smirked at his irritated sic before not so subtly reminding him.  
“would have been your sorry ass if he hadn’t of pushed you down.”  
rogue glared at him a moment at being reminded of the kid saving him.  
“fine”  
nodding his head clay turned back around in his seat, he shared a smirk with pooch.  
the car rolled to a slow stop, the last of the gas being spent before it coasted for a bit. pooch sighed before looking over to clay and saying.  
“end of the line.”  
the co nodded his head before glancing back, cougar had already sat up in his seat, his hat once more in place atop his head.  
“alright losers, gear up. were going on a walk”  
snorting rogue flung the door open and said.  
“some walk you got planned clay, what are the sights we can expect to see? the devils ass crack?”  
the co smirked at his sic and retorted.  
“if your lucky”  
rogue chuckled before heading to the back of the suv to help pooch unload their gear. cougar was busy unbuckling jensen as the blonde slowly woke back up. the sniper smiled at his friend despite the blonde being unable to see it.  
“come mi amigo, time to go”  
“huh? planes here?”  
shaking his head cougar replied.  
“we have much walking to do to reach the plane.”  
the blonde blinked owlishly up at him before he muttered.  
“i hate the dessert”  
smirking the sniper pulled his friend along and helped him down from inside the suv. the blonde shielded his eyes at the harsh light before glancing around and the vast dessert around them. he followed after cougar as the man tugged him along to where the others were loading themselves up with gear.  
“boss, i think its safe to say i wont wander...you guys are the only thing out here.”  
clay smirked at the hacker.  
“all the same, stick close”  
“sure thing boss.”  
the hacker was helped into his gear by pooch and cougar. they made sure the buckles were tight to help support the weight on the man. once everyone was ready, they began the slow walk towards their evac site. it was disturbingly quiet, jensen not being in the frame of mind to ramble as he normally did, because of that his team kept shooting glances behind them to make sure he was still there. the hacker had a hold of cougar’s pack and was stumbling along behind his friend. cougar was the only one who didn’t need to look back to check on the man, there was subtle difference in the weight of his pack when jensen had a hold of it. it was enough for the sniper to know if his friend was still behind him or not.  
it was a while later that they stopped for a small break in order to drink some much needed water. everyone was melting under the intense sun and dessert heat. sweat beading off of them as if they were their own personal rain cloud. the droplets falling off of them to patter onto the starved soil beneath them. jensen wiped his brow with his arm before taking another sip of water. he was thirsty, desperately so, but he also knew that it was more than just the heat making him feel that way, he didn’t know how much blood he’d lost with his head wound the second time around, but it was enough to make him dizzy and confused at times. still he refused to chug the water, knowing it wouldn’t do him any good, the best course was to take things slow and let his body absorb what he gave it. he sighed before turning to hand the canteen back to cougar. the sniper took a drink of his own before recapping it. their break was almost over so there was no need to leave it out. he secured it to his pack once more before turning to ask the hacker.  
“estas bien? (are you alright?)”  
the hacker smiled at him before saying.  
“i kinda feel what i think roadkill might feel like, you know if roadkill could feel anything...besides being dead i mean. can you feel being dead? i think that’s a thing.”  
snorting the sniper replied.  
“you can rest soon”  
nodding his head a little, so as not to make himself more dizzy, the blonde said.  
“yeah...not looking forward to the plane cougs”  
the sniper smiled at his friend, knowing that the man hated flying in the first place without being disorientated by his lack of glasses. jensen smiled at cougar, he held back telling the man that the dizziness was making him nauseous. there wasn’t any reason to go there unless he actually threw up and he hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t do that in front of them. clay called the group to start walking once more and the losers fell in line behind him, jensen taking up his hold on cougars pack once more before he started to walk.  
shortly after three in the afternoon clay called a halt to their trek. saying that they would make camp for the night, the sun was already starting to set and before they lost the light they needed to have their gear set out. they had tossed their tents, as the added weight wasn’t going to do them any good on their long journey, their bedrolls were enough to keep them insulated during the nighttime temperatures, so they rolled those out before rogue dug out some mre’s for them to munch on. he tossed two to cougar and let the sniper hand one over to jensen. the hacker mumbled a thanks before he half heartily opened it and began chewing on the food within it. the group hunkered down, eating from their own meal’s. occasionally someone would make an odd comment, but overall there wasn’t the normal conversation around a campfire, of course they didn’t have a campfire in the middle of the flat dessert, there was no kindling to use to fuel one. so they sat huddled on top of their bedrolls in a circle. they were halfway through their meal before jensen handed his packet over to cougar with a delicate shake of his head, the sniper and the rest of the losers frowned, but no one got to ask before jensen said.  
“too dizzy...imma lay down”  
“si”  
they watched the hacker lay down on his bedroll, the blonde sighing as he closed his eyes. cougar glanced to clay a frown marring his face. clay shook his head, there was nothing they could do for how jensen might be feeling, other than to keep him drinking and eating as much as he could without being physically ill. the best thing the man could do is what he was already doing, laying down and shutting out extra stimulus. the sniper glanced back to the hacker when his boss had given him no answers. even after all the sun, the man looked pale. sighing he finished his meal, before helping pooch discard of the left overs. a routine was established for the night watch and the rest began to prepare for bed. cougar shook jensen awake just long enough to get the blonde into his bedroll as the temperatures were beginning to drop and hypothermia wouldn’t help the hacker any. jensen thanked him before snuggling back down to sleep. cougar returned to his own bedroll and closed his eyes, falling into a light doze until it was his turn to watch over the group.  
cougar was watching over the group, pooch had already gone back to sleep after his watch was over. the sniper glanced around the flat land all around them. no movement. not even any wild dogs were about in the barren expanse. he settled his gaze onto jake and sighed. the blonde had moved a little in his bed from time to time, but hadn’t woken up during any of the others’ watch’s. he hoped that come morning the man would feel better, they still had another day and half at their current pace to make it to their point for evac. their pace was slow going because of the man needing to be lead instead of walking under his own power, it considerably slowed their pace.

he glanced over towards the sleeping form of rogue, the man hadn’t been as much of an ass since jensen had saved his life, he wondered how long that would last. they had all been shaken by the sight of jake lying in a pool of blood, the halo of red ensconcing his head almost like a crown. when pooch had gone to investigate, he’d wanted to puke, he couldn’t look at his friend that way...then upon finding out that jensen had escaped intact after such a close call, well there were not words for how he’d felt as he helped pooch suture the man, the feeling of the man’s steady pulse under his fingertips doing more for him in that instance than pooch’s own words that the hacker was indeed alive. he doubted any of them had seen the placement of his fingers as they doctored the kid, but that was fine by cougar. none of them needed any other problems and even if his intentions were meant to uplift the mood with his ribbing, rogue would have surely found himself at the end of his pistol if he’d dare say anything about it.   
sighing cougar let his gaze drift around the campsite once more, it was a boring watch. the chances of anyone coming a crossed them were so infinitesimal that it bordered on insane. the drug peddlers would have to be insane to travel this far after them for a chance of revenge after what they’d done to their compound and then the group who’d ambushed them at the suv earlier that day. shaking his head to move away from that train of thought, cougar glanced back to jensen just in time to see the man move around before he found a comfortable spot and settled once more. smirking the sniper couldn’t help but be thankful that the man had stumbled into his hospital room all those weeks ago by chance. the kid was meant to be a loser, he fit in well with them. the sniper was sure that even rogue couldn’t deny that anymore. he settled in for the rest of his watch, looking out over the expanse of dessert before him.


	9. mutiny afoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> with the mission done, the losers have started their lengthy trek towards their pick up site. as they continue this journey the group gets to spend some time reminicing and talking about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here it is folks. the happy ending, just like i promised.

morning came soon enough and after eating and drinking they bundled up their gear and started out once more. cougar glanced to jensen, the man had regained a little color over the night, but still hadn’t eaten much. he’d drank which made the sniper more at ease considering their present location. however the man wondered if the blonde was getting enough calories for all the walking they were doing. once they were all set, the blonde grasped his pack and they started towards their destination once more.  
as they trudged through out the dessert, only stopping for a few short breaks to take in some water. it was quiet, the blonde stayed dutifully behind cougar, he didn’t dawdle as he stumbled along, but he also didn’t talk. rogue was taking up the rear once more and shook his head as the kid stumbled a little, catching himself before he fell back in line with cougar. the kid was nearly blind and it showed, he was tripping over nothing. there weren’t even any pebbles for him to scuff up, just the hard packed ground that he continuously tripped on. shaking his head rogue followed after them, occasionally glancing behind him to make sure no one was tailing them. there was nothing in sight in all directions as far as he could see.

clay was leading them via a gps res-ponder, so he figured they were safe from wondering the dessert until they died of heatstroke or lack of resources.   
rogue stopped suddenly when the kid stumbled again, cougar having to slow so that the kid didn’t fall or take him down with him. jensen muttered a curse under his breath before righting himself and nodding towards cougar, the sniper didn’t say a word as he turned and continued on. rogue found he was hesitant to give the kid grief about their slow pace, he blamed that on clay though. the man seemed to like reminding him in not so subtle ways that he would most likely be dead if it wasn’t for the hacker, he was unsure if this was clay being an asshole or if it was his way of getting him not to start something with the kid. either way it pissed him off.  
pooch glanced back behind himself when he heard a muttered curse, he sighed at the sight of jensen righting himself behind cougar who had slowed to allow the man to catch up. the blonde was doing the best he could and pooch was sure that had he been anyone besides himself, they would have been screwed. he knew too many men who would simply roll over and die if they were in a similar position. he snorted at that before looking to clay when the man asked.  
“problem?”  
“no, just couldn’t help but think that if we had someone besides jensen and they got in this situation that they’d just roll over and die...or rogue would kill them...cant decide which. either way, the kids got balls, hasn’t complained once about being lead about”  
clay nodded his head as they walked, giving a subtle glance over his shoulder before turning back around.  
“he doesn’t want to lose his place with us because of what happened. he’s nervous that we’ll hold the whole alarm thing against him, or the fact that we have to lead him around because of his glasses. he doesn’t want to be a liability and end back up in the barracks”  
pooch snorted before doing something clay never thought the level headed man would do.  
“you kick him, you lose me too”  
clay smirked before telling the man.  
“im not kicking him anywhere pooch, you and i both know that if we had gone into this mission with someone like our previous tech, the mission would have gone to hell in a hand basket, the tech would most likely be dead, we might be injured or dead or worse captured. the information would have been destroyed or simply not available at all to us. he’s earned his place here, he’s a loser.”  
pooch smirked at his boss before muttering.  
“you know, i cant help but wonder if we should really enjoy being called losers or not... i mean it gives us a sense of pride to be one, but to the other teams its some cosmic joke...you never told me, how’d we get that name in the first place?”  
clay smirked at him before saying in a nonchalant tone of voice.  
“rogue”  
pooch glanced to him before sighing and saying.  
“enough said”  
chuckling clay shook his head.  
“we were arguing about who to bring on, we had just been given the all clear to have our own team. he knew he was going with me, but was demanding i get the best of the best because he’d be damned if he was going to serve with a bunch of loser’s who couldn’t hold a damn gun to save their lives...when i brought on you, he grumbled cause of all the reports of your reckless maneuvers and what not. after you got us out of that situation in morocco, he shut up. when i brought on cougar he pitched a fit about the man not being suitable for the job. cougar’s rep was pretty bad at the time, he’d just gotten back from that mission on Afghanistan, his whole team gone...he was fucked up himself because of it, rogue wanted nothing to do with him saying that if the he couldn’t have saved his first team, he wasn’t about to be the second one to go down...course after he saw cougar’s shooting skills he brightened up. he went down himself to the records office and threatened the people for writing the shit in cougar’s file that they had...the rest you know.”  
pooch was grinning like a loon, a small jerk of his shoulders as he chuckled silently beside clay.  
“damn man...this is hilarious...he hates being wrong and then the topper being the one to name our team...jackass.”  
smirking clay nodded his head.  
“he didn’t approve of it, thought i was joking.”  
pooch shrugged his shoulders before telling his co.  
“and now he waltz’s around telling people that their nobody’s cause their not a ‘loser’.”  
clay chuckled at that, they both glanced back when they heard another curse. jensen was once again righting himself on his feet as he trailed after cougar. the sniper didn’t appear bothered though, he patiently waited for his friend before they started moving once more. looking to one another, pooch asked.  
“we gonna make it in time?”  
clay looked down to the gps receiver he was using to guide them before nodding.  
“yeah, were doing alright.”  
“good, cause even though rogue’s behaving himself, i do not want to have to explain us waiting around for another evac if we miss this one.”  
clay smirked at the bald man before admitting.  
“he’s behaving because i told him just where he’d be if it wasn’t for jensen pushing him down out of the way.”  
pooch snickered at that.  
“low blow man, low blow.”  
“but effective none the less.”  
pooch shrugged his shoulders at that as they continued to trudge forward a crossed the dessert.  
the day progressed as slowly as their pace. the heat beating down on them, forcing them to take breaks to re-hydrate themselves before they started forward again. this continued on and off throughout the day. when the sun began to set, clay called out.  
“another mile before we make camp”  
the group nodded, no one having the energy to respond verbally to the man. the last mile was a long one, they were all relieved to be able to shrug off their packs and rest. the bedrolls were placed once more in a circle and the group settled down. they waited to eat until the sun was setting, the temperature dropping to a more comfortable temperature before they dug out their meals.  
the group settled in, munching away at their prepackaged meals. pooch tossed something from his to rogue, the large man threw something back. clay smirked at his team’s antics before looking over to cougar and jensen, the tech was sitting cross legged on his bedroll. he seemed to be doing better, which of great relief to the man. he watched as cougar passed something into the blondes fingers, the blonde smirked at the sniper before tossing a small packet back at him. the sniper easily caught the package as it flew too far left. the pair were talking softly every now and again, clay was relieved that someone could finally get cougar to talk. lord knew he’d been trying since he’d first gotten the sniper on his team. pooch and the man were friendly and talked to each other, but until jensen had arrived the sullen sniper was more apt to remain silent for days on end, then actually talk. now he spoke almost freely, not always to the rest of the team, but at least he was talking with someone. clay was broken from his train of thought by rogue asking.  
“how much farther are we from evac?”  
the others perked up to listen to his reply.  
“should take us about three hours to get there...then its just waiting, plane wont show until its dark.”  
the others nodded their heads at that, it was normal procedure for the choppers or planes to use the cover of darkness to hide their arrivals and departures in foreign countries. they all grinned when jensen raised his hand as he was prone to doing when he had a question.  
“yes jensen?”  
clay said clearly amused.  
“uh...is it a plane or a chopper coming for us?”  
“plane i believe, why?”  
the blonde shrugged his shoulders before saying.  
“choppers are more jerky, less stable...planes don’t have as much give to them...was just curious as to my chances of not puking on one of you guys mid flight.”  
the group snorted at him before rogue spoke up.  
“you puke on me, you better jump off that damn plane kid”  
jensen glanced towards where rogue’s voice was coming from before smiling.  
“trust me dude, if i puke on you-i will already be well aware of my impending mutilation...jumping out of the plane might hurt less.”  
pooch laughed at that before telling the blonde.  
“he’s not going to hurt you if you puke, its not something you can control...he might bitch a lot though.”  
rogue glared at his teammate before saying.  
“trust me when i say, i will gut any of you if you puke on me.”  
clay shook his head at his sic before asking jensen.  
“you feel sick corporal?”  
jake shook his head.  
“no not really, i mean i get dizzy and all that, but i don’t know how i’ll do once im on the plane. walking’s one thing....flying is a different beast all together.”  
clay smirked at the man.  
“you’ll be fine, if you get sick-you get sick. nothing for it.”  
jake nodded his head before motioning towards rogue’s direction with a hand. the others smirked when cougar ducked the kids hand, the blonde oblivious to almost hitting the sniper.  
“trust me sir, i might just want to die if i do puke on any of you...so embarrassing man, there is no coming back from that.”  
shaking his head, cougar grabbed the kids hand and moved it down beside the kid. jensen glanced to him before coloring.  
“oh shit...sorry cougs.”  
the others chuckled as the kid finally realized he almost hit the man. the sniper shook his head as he said.  
“trata de no golpearme bien? ( try not to hit me alright?)”  
jensen nodded his head before replying.  
“no significaba demasiado, voy a apuntar para mr matar feliz por alli la proxima vez ( didn’t mean too, i’ll aim for mr. kill happy over there next time.)”  
the sniper chuckled at his friend before saying.  
“tienes suerte de que no pueda entenderte ( you are lucky he can’t understand you)”  
jensen grinned towards his friend as he said.  
“well duh”  
cougar chuckled once more before looking to the rest of the loser’s who were watching them. he smirked at them, refusing to explain what had gone on. rogue rolled his eyes at the two of them, clay shook his head as if he might have caught some of what had just transpired. pooch tilted his head before muttering.  
“you know i just realized something”  
they all glanced to the man.  
“yeah whats that poochman?”  
jensen asked in his usual tone. the man chuckled at his nickname before saying.  
“those two could mutiny and we’d have no fuckin clue what they were planning...how screwed up is that.”  
jensen snorted at his friend before elbowing cougar in the ribs.  
“mutiny...pft, we can do way better than mutiny cant we cougar?”  
the sniper smirked, but didn’t answer his friend. pooch jerked his thumb at the two of them.  
“see what i mean...jensen’s too damn smart for his own good, and with cougar’s enjoyment with fucking with people subvertly, we’d be screwed.”  
the sniper snorted at the transport specialist. jensen cried out in mirth.  
“oh now your on his list dude...shouldn’t have said anything. he can shoot people in the ass from a mile away.”  
cougar glanced to the blonde before rolling his eyes and looking back to pooch who was laughing at jensen’s random exclamation. it was rogue who asked.  
“why the fuck would he bother to shoot someone in the ass? he can kill them with that same bullet instead of hobbling them.”  
jensen snorted at the sic before saying to cougar.  
“he doesn’t get it”  
cougar chuckled at the put out sic’s face before replying to his friend.  
“no, he does not...i wont be shooting anyone in the ass though.”  
jensen pouted at that before saying.  
“one of these day’s im gonna get you to do that man.”  
the sniper shook his head before glancing to pooch who was laughing as he said.  
“why the fuck would you want him to shoot someone in the ass?”  
jensen looked affronted by the question.  
“seriously? you don’t want to get the sheer unadulted enjoyment of seeing some poor bastard clutch his ass after being pegged in the ass by a sniper? where is your sense of adventure pooch?”  
the man cracked up at that before telling his friend.  
“well it certainly doesn’t revolve around shooting people in the ass, for that matter how are you going to convince cougar to do that for you?”  
jensen was quiet a moment while they all stared at him. rogue finally said.  
“he’s actually working that out you know”  
the others nodded their head to the sic. cougar was watching jensen, curious to find out what the man thought he could use to get his way. finally the blonde made an ‘aha’ sound and looked towards him.  
“alrighty my spanishy friend-”  
the group chuckled at the blonde using his nickname for cougar once more. the sniper frowned at it.  
“your gonna peg some bastard in the ass one of these days for me, preferably soon and in an area where i can have it recorded. and in return for that amazing moment, i will acquire some of that contraband tequila from el savaldor.”  
they all blinked at him before pooch asked him.  
“how the fuck are you going to get something like that into the u.s. undetected and then shipped to a high security base on top of it?”  
jensen snorted at the man before saying.  
“i hacked a satellite, which does not officially exist for you to talk to your girlfriend, you think i cant get some tequila delivered?”  
the group stared at the blonde a moment before pooch cried out.  
“what do you mean it doesn’t exist? what the fuck did you hack jensen!”  
the blonde smirked before glancing towards where clay was sitting.  
“uh, do you want me to start with the tech babble now sir? “  
the man smirked at the hacker, remembering his earlier words to the man about him not knowing about it and therefor not having to report it.  
“i don’t want the details on that jensen, now how about you tell me how you are going to get this tequila into the u.s.?”  
jensen smiled as he heard pooch mutter about ‘your telling me later about that damn satellite’. he moved on though to answer his co.  
“oh well that’s really easy, i mean you saw our druggy friends back there with the vacuum’s right? same thing really. you just forge the paperwork and document’s for shipping, make sure its labeled as i don’t know coffee filters and there you have it. tequila hand delivered to our house, on base...from el salvador.”  
clay shook his head at that before telling the hacker.  
“you cant do that corporal”  
jensen snorted at that, so clay amended it.  
“alright- you can, but if you do, i have to report it.”  
the hacker pouted at that before asking.  
“can we go back to the you not knowing about shit and me getting away with it sir?”  
clay chuckled before telling the blonde.  
“i think even i would take notice of a shipment of tequila jensen.”  
the blonde sighed before turning to cougar and asking.  
“so uh...how do you feel about post office boxes.”  
the others laughed as pooch exclaimed.  
“you cant do that either dumbass.”  
jensen sent a glare towards his friend before throwing his arms up in the air.  
“fine fine, i wont break the postal system with my nefarious plans to bring good tequila into the country. you happy now?.”  
cougar chuckled at his friend as jensen lowered his hands to cross his arms over his chest as he did when pouting. pooch shook his head before suggesting.  
“im sure you can find something else worth the trouble of cougar shooting some bastard in the ass for you.”  
the blonde huffed before saying.  
“tequila’s better”  
rolling his eyes pooch looked to cougar and said.  
“if you get any weird notice’s of shipments, you might want to turn him in.”  
the sniper grinned when jake cried foul at that. cougar reached over and patted the blonde on his shoulder.  
“nada ilegal mi amigo no me gustaria tener que salir de la carcel de la carcel ( nothing illegal my friend i would not want to have to bail you out of jail)”  
jensen frowned at him before muttering back.  
“lo que no saben no les hara dano ( what they don’t know wont hurt them)”  
the sniper smirked at his friend.  
“eres todo menos furtivo mi amigo ( you are anything but stealthy my friend)”  
jensen looked afronted at that before crying out.  
“i am too stealthy”  
pooch and rogue both snorted at that. jensen glared at the group before saying.  
“shut it, or i’ll chance both of your legal names to clarence and barneby and legally marry you to each other.”  
both rogue and pooch stopped laughing at that. clay chuckled for a moment at the shocked looks on his teams faces before saying.  
“no hacking your team jensen”  
the man nodded before saying.  
“then don’t doubt my stealthy ways...i am the master of stealth, now back to you my spanishy friend, i will figure something out and then we shall negotiate my terms of ass carnage. deal?”  
chuckling the sniper replied.  
“si”  
jensen nodded his head before laying down on his bedroll. putting his hands gingerly behind his head as a makeshift pillow, careful not to put too much pressure on his wounded head. the others stared at him a moment before pooch muttered.  
“is it bad that i want to admit that, that kind of terrified me a little?”  
jensen snorted before saying.  
“i’d make you barneby...yeah definitely barneby”  
shaking his head clay told the team.  
“settle in you lot, we still got a long day’s travel to evac tomorrow.”  
the group nodded to their co, they began to settle into their bedrolls. cougar leaned over to hit jensen’s boot to get the man under his bedroll instead of lying on top of it. the blonde nodded his head and squirmed his way into it. shaking his head, cougar bedded down himself and was quickly asleep surrounded by his team.

************************

they were well underway shortly after the sun rose the next day. jensen was admittedly feeling better than he had the previous two days and it showed. instead of trailing behind cougar like he had been doing, he had his hand on the snipers shoulder and was walking beside him, he was still stumbling as he struggled to see through his blurry vision, but he was also talking. something for which the whole group was pleased to hear.  
“okay....uh...new scope?”  
“no”  
the others smirked, jensen had been at it trying to figure out what he could barter to get the sniper to shoot someone in the ass for him. so far he’d had no luck, it’d been more than an hour.  
“damn....um...how about some of those special enchilada’s my sister can make?”  
the sniper shook his head at his friend before saying.  
“no”  
pooch looked back to say amusedly.  
“dude, you think he cant get enchilada’s he’s spanish for fucks sake”  
the others chuckled at that, jensen stuck out his tongue at pooch before going back to his mission of figuring out something to barter the sniper’s services for.  
“okay okay....uh lets see...oh oh i can take you to new hampshire and you can hunt a moose.”  
they all stopped to turn and look at the hacker like he was nuts. cougar tilted his head to ask?  
“que? (what?)”  
jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah, you can go hunting there...for moose and bears....do you like bears?”  
snorting the sniper looked to the rest of the team who were still staring at the blonde. finally rogue barked out.  
“he’s fucking hunted people dude, why would he want a damn moose?”  
pooch nodded to rogue’s statement before adding.  
“further more what the hell would he do with a moose?”  
they all nodded to that, even cougar. jensen thought a moment before saying.  
“uh well we could hang its head in the barracks...you could eat it-i think...look im not a hunter alright-.”  
they all snorted at that, the blonde turned to glare at the other three before continuing.  
“but, its supposed to be fun and you shoot things so...yeah.”  
shaking his head the sniper said.  
“no”  
before he turned and started walking again. the blonde sighed before saying honestly.  
“probably not a bad idea...there’s no way sarah would let us gut a moose in her back yard...plus then you have to cut it up and beth, oh god yeah no....definitely no.”  
the others chuckled at that, if there was one thing they had learned about the hacker since he moved in with them it was that he loved his niece as if she was his own and feared his sister’s wrath like she was god herself. they had made it another couple feet before the blonde spoke up again with a new idea.  
“okay...uh...lets see i could always fly us to el salvador for the a couple days...you’d be surprised how much the army doesn’t mind you using its planes if they’re already headed that way.”  
the group chuckled at him before clay called out.  
“they do mind corporal, they mind a lot.”  
the others laughed at their co and then more when jensen said back.  
“not if they don’t know better...pilots are stupid”  
“hey!”  
pooch called out as the others laughed. jensen made a sheepish look before saying.  
“sorry pooch, other pilots are stupid...not you man.”  
the bald man muttered under his breath ‘how can a smart person be so stupid’. clay and rogue snorted at that, but cougar and jensen were too far off to hear it. onward they marched through the dessert, stopping here and there to drink water before marching on. it was shortly passed noon when clay said.  
“well we made it”  
the others sighed as they dropped their packs in obvious relief. cougar helped jensen lower his own before they all sat on the ground. now all they could do was wait for the plane. the sniper and hacker passed a canteen between them as the others did the same. finally out of the blue jensen said.  
“we’ve got hours right?”  
“yeah?”  
pooch said.  
“cool, do you still got those cards?”  
they all snorted at that, pooch always had cards. however rogue piped up.  
“why? you want to play? your blind”  
jensen flipped him off and then lowered his hand as they laughed at how off center his hand was.  
“you all suck, yes i want to play...i hate being bored, i cant hack like this even with knowing the keyboard as well as i do. if i left the wrong interface open i could fuck things up so im stuck being lame like the rest of you...so cards yes?”  
the others snorted at him, but finally pooch shrugged his shoulders.  
“alright alright, might as well.”  
the others crowded together and as pooch got the card’s and his weapon’s for betting, the others started pulling out their own choices for betting material. jensen was smirking as he pulled something. the others raised a brow at him. he showed off a dagger they hadn’t seen before.  
“where’d you get that?”  
rogue questioned the hacker. the blonde snickered before saying.  
“after the explosion, the three guys fell down right? well as i was dashing over their confused ass’s i snatched it up and stashed it in my boot.”  
the sic smirked at him before saying.  
“well played kid.”  
nodding his head, jensen threw it towards what he thought was center, the others snorted before pooch moved it. jensen scowled before commenting.  
“watch it barneby, i cant see shit but i know when your making fun of me.”  
pooch laughed at his ‘fake’ name.  
“fine fine, hey are their certain colors that you can see better?”  
snorting jensen replied.  
“im not color blind dumbass.”  
shaking his head pooch explained.  
“no no, if you can see certain colors better than others, we can make a makeshift..uh flag if you will. you can see it and you wont miss where to throw shit.”  
jensen thought a moment before shrugging.  
“i don’t know, bright things are best...red, yellow...stuff like that.”  
they all turned when the sniper made a sudden noise and reached behind him and jake to rifle through the kids duffle.   
“what’s he doing?”  
“looks like he’s looking through your underwear kid.”  
snorting jensen flipped rogue off as best as he could, before they all looked when cougar turned around with a bright orange shirt in hand. jensen grinned at his friend.  
“hey its my shirt”  
the others snorted at him before pooch asked.  
“you can see it though?”  
nodding his head, he watched as cougar tossed it to the ‘center’ of their game before turning to ask.  
“bien? (good?)”  
“si”  
he replied happily. cougar snorted before they all settled into the game. jensen happily tossed in the knife he’d stolen off of the drug peddler, cougar put in a small handgun, rogue surprise surprise put in a rather large knife. pooch put in another knife and clay tossed in a long barreled pistol. they raised and folded accordingly before cougar took the pot while the others called foul. another round was started easily enough which earned jensen an intense scowl from rogue when he beat the man out by two points. jensen grinned before muttering.  
“you know, i think i can actually feel his glare...he is glaring isn’t he?”  
“si”  
cougar replied amused by the man’s rants. jensen nodded his head.  
“yeah, i thought so...feel’s hotter than this damn sun...all death like.”  
rogue snorted at the hacker before saying.  
“i’m winning that knife back”  
the hacker nodded his head before he waved the knife around.  
“i don’t know, i kinda like this one...all big and pointy like...”  
rogue shook his head as the others chuckled at the hacker.  
“play your damn cards”  
jensen grinned before peering at his cards, he had to hold them close to his face to be able to see what he had, but after he counted his score up, he tucked them away and said.  
“bring it bitch”  
rogue rolled his eyes before tossing in another gun to the growing pot. jensen grinned before purposefully putting in a different knife. rogue glared at the hacker, who smirked innocently back at the group. pooch ended up winning that round, all the while jensen played with rogue’s knife. the others were shooting the sic glances as they chuckled at the hacker baiting the large man. jensen was twirling the knife around when he suddenly stopped and asked.  
“hey...is this the one you said you decapitated some guy with?”  
rogue smirked before answering the kid verbally just to make sure the hacker got his answer.  
“i decapitated two people with that.”  
jensen glanced to the knife in his hand before picking it up as if it was a diseased tissue and tossing it into the fresh pot. rogue chuckled at the kid’s apparent disgust, unable to help himself the sic told the kid.  
“i used that knife i won off of you the other day”  
jensen tilted his head before asking.  
“when would you find a use for that thing out here?”  
smirking rogue replied.  
“i drove it through a guy’s sternum when they ambushed us at the car.”  
jensen blinked a moment before asking.  
“through his sternum?”  
“yeah”  
the blonde shook his head at that before saying.  
“you realize that’s like near impossible to do right?”  
the man leaned forward and said.  
“i heard it crack as the knife went into his chest.”  
jensen made an ‘ew’ face that the others chuckled at before the kid said.  
“alrighty then...well that’s not going to give me any nightmares.”  
the group laughed at jensen. pooch chiming in.  
“be glad he hasn’t told you about our time in somolia.”  
the hacker nodded his head before pointing towards rogue and saying.  
“that was not an invitation to tell me, i don’t want to know”  
the group laughed as rogue snorted at the kid.  
“play your cards jensen”  
the kid nodded his head before tossing them down for the others to count up. he chuckled a little when clay ended up with the coveted knife. the blonde couldn’t help but ask.  
“is he glaring at clay now?”  
cougar chuckled before saying.  
“si”  
“huh...we could use that to our advantage you know”  
the group turned to look at him before pooch asked.  
“what do you mean?”  
“well, if rogue’s all gung ho on getting it back, throw it at some bastard, make him catch it and release rogue onto his sorry ass.”  
pooch broke into a loud fit of laughter as he hit rogue’s shoulder, the sic glared at him when the transport specialist said.  
“he just called you a dog man”  
jensen snorted at that before saying.  
“i did not call him a dog, i implied that he acts like one. there is a difference.”  
the hacker blinked before saying.  
“i can actually feel you hating me right now”  
“good”  
the sic said gruffly, he reached over and smacked pooch upside the head to shut him up, the man yelped before snickering some more. clay shook his head at his team before saying.  
“alright enough...we are not releasing rogue on anybody. nor are we throwing weapons at people for them to turn around and use against us.”  
jensen rolled his eyes before saying.  
“dude its a knife not a machine gun.”  
clay glared at the hacker before saying.  
“and if they threw it back at you?”  
the hacker blinked before saying.  
“well duck, duh.”  
the others snorted at that, clay rubbed his forehead as he shook his head at the audacity of the man. finally their co said.  
“again i shouldn’t have to say these things, but no one is throwing knives at an enemy unless its to kill them. we are not playing catch with deadly weapons.”  
the other losers chuckled at their put out boss. jensen leaned over to cougar and muttered.  
“cuesta si lanza dinamita? (does it count if you throw dynamite?)”  
the sniper looked at the hacker like he was nuts, jensen continued to stare back at him. waiting for an answer. clay however interrupted.  
“what did he say?”  
cougar turned to look at his co, unsure if he should repeat what jensen had just said because he was unsure if the kid meant it as a joke or if he’d actually done something that stupid. sighing the sniper looked to jensen and quickly asked.  
“realmente hiciste algo tan estupido? ( did you actually do something that stupid?)”  
jensen shook his head, cougar sighed at that in obvious relief only to glare at his friend when jensen said.  
“it wasn’t stupid, it was awesome...the look on his face man.”  
the sniper shook his head before saying.  
“idiota”  
the others watched the exchange and before jensen could reply to the man’s typical response to him being an idiot. clay asked.  
“what did he say?”  
cougar glanced to his co and opened his mouth to say something, only to have jensen punch his shoulder.  
“hey, no hablo ingles dude.”  
cougar snorted at his friend before answering their co dryly.  
“he threw dynamite at someone”  
jensen cried out when the sniper told his secret. clay sighed upon hearing that before turning his attention to the pouting hacker.  
“i know this is probably a stupid question, but was it lit?”  
jensen smirked and giggled a little. clay shook his head.  
“never mind.”  
the others snorted at that before rogue piped up.  
“you got balls kid, i’ll give you that.”  
“i do don’t i? that guy sure didn’t afterwards that is...they would have needed a spatula to clean him up.”  
the hacker quipped. rogue chuckled at the kids joke. pooch chuckled a bit before sheepishly replying to his glaring co.  
“come on clay, you gotta admit that’s a little funny...besides he’s not going to do something like that again now that he’s with us. we’ll keep him out of trouble.”  
their co snorted before muttering.  
“with all of your records, that does not make me feel any better.”  
jensen laughed at that before telling the man.  
“what you should really be worried about is the fact that half the shit i did isn’t in any report...my co’s didn’t want to have to explain the stuff i did...one guy said that he didn’t get paid enough to explain the improper use of a chicken...which by the way, improper or not it was awesome...that chicken should have gotten a medal man...so brave.”  
the others stared at him, but the blonde didn’t notice as he smirked to himself. clay coughed before saying.  
“that falls under what i don’t want to know about corporal, we clear on that?”  
jensen glanced towards clay and nodded his head.  
“sure thing boss...no chicken’s...no dynamite throwing...uh anything else that is strictly out of bounds?”  
clay was about to retort no, when he paused and decided to say.  
“lets put it this way jensen, if you know that there is no feasible way to convince two of us to go along with whatever you are thinking about doing, don’t do it.”  
the man pouted while the team laughed. clay then added.  
“on a side note to that, you cannot use any teammates that are currently concussed,drugged, or otherwise impaired.”  
the man snorted.  
“fine print will kill you man...i tell ya.”  
the others chuckled at hacker. cougar shook his head at his friend before clapping him on the back.  
“you will still manage to cause trouble, im sure.”  
jensen glanced towards the sniper and smirked.  
“yeah, but dynamite...and chickens....”  
he pouted. cougar sighed at his friend before looking to the rest of the losers and saying.  
“our mission reports are going to be blacklisted”  
clay shook his head at that while the others chuckled. their co adding.  
“they better not be, i am not explaining to the brass why my hacker misused a chicken or dynamite or anything else that goes against any number of laws or regulations.”  
“aww...if that’s true im going to be stuck playing words with friends all the time...i like hacking places, i found a camera feed in india the other day that show’s you the perfect view of people being forced to bow down in servitude to cow’s...you do not abuse cow’s there fyi...it was so awesome man....i mean its not everyday you get to see some poor sap begging a bull for forgiveness because he mistreated another cow. he’s probably still there too...i need to look in on that...i miss eduardo”  
the group looked at him strangely before cougar asked.  
“eduardo?”  
the hacker nodded his head.  
“i named the bull, he’s got a nose piercing and everything... one bad ass bovine man...i like him.”  
shaking his head the sniper muttered under his breath in spanish something the others couldn’t hear, but that jensen apparently caught.  
“your just jealous of eduardo”  
the sniper looked at jensen like he’d just told him to jump off a bridge. the others chuckled, their sic daring to state.  
“im pretty sure there is nothing that would make cougar jealous of your pet cow.”  
“bull, eduardo is a bull, not a cow. cow’s are ladies, bull’s are bad ass gentlemen...or gentle bulls.”  
rogue looked to clay and in all seriousness said.  
“i cant promise his continued survival if this is an example of his priorities.”  
clay shook his head before saying.  
“you said that about pooch and cougar too, yet their still alive...im going to call your bluff on this one too.”  
rogue snorted before looking back to the hacker who was arguing with their sniper about why eduardo was a perfectly good name for a bull in india. rogue gestured towards the kid with his hand.  
“he’s currently arguing about names for cows clay.”  
“he’s a bull”  
he glared at the kids head, as jensen had already returned to his conversation with cougar. pooch chuckled before ribbing rogue.  
“yeah man, get it straight...eduardo is a bull.”  
jensen glanced over to nod to pooch and tell rogue.  
“see he gets it.”  
rogue snorted before saying.  
“he’s a dumbass who names his cars...figures you two would get along.”  
the hacker huffed before saying.  
“i get along with cougar too, he doesn’t name things. so nah”  
the man stuck his tongue out at the sic. rogue glared before looking to cougar, the sniper was smugly smirking at their present exchange of conversation.  
“you deserve him”  
cougar chuckled at the large man before quietly saying.  
“he is...entretenido (entertaining)”  
rogue raised a brow at that, but frowned when jensen nodded his head in agreement to whatever the sniper had just said.  
“whatever”  
he grumbled back. jensen cried out in victory.  
“we won! he admitted defeat to our awesomeness.”  
rogue glared at the kid, while pooch and cougar chuckled. clay shook his head at their antics. they all turned sharply when the transponder for their evac beeped. clay picked it up and turned it on, a radio broadcast came over.  
“eta two hours and counting. be at drop site ready for pickup.”  
clay smirked at his team as the broadcast started to repeat itself. he shut off the message the transponder was repeating and said.  
“were going home boys.”  
the group nodded, happy to hear that they only had a little longer to wait before they headed back to the states. the moment was suddenly broken when jensen chimed in.  
“you realize that its almost a straight shot to el salvador right? i say we mutiny and get us some tequila on the way home. rogue always has rope, so we can tie up the pilots and pooch can fly...lets do this.”  
the group was silent a moment before clay muttered.  
“i shouldn’t have to say this, yet i am you are-”  
cougar smirked at the hacker as he was told by their co that he wasn’t allowed to stage a cue on their pick up team for tequila and that mutiny’s were not allowed while he was in the loser’s. the sniper watched the hacker nod his head accordingly as he was read the riot act by their commanding officer. he could already tell that his friend was thinking up ways to counter the man’s orders even as he nodded along to clay’s lecture. smirking cougar couldn’t help but think to himself.  
‘i knew he’d fit in.’


End file.
